


Black Eyes

by Fallencellist



Series: Shades of Colors [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 10:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6113992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallencellist/pseuds/Fallencellist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike always wondered why the animatronics' eyes went black every time the new head guard was around. Sometimes, it's best left alone, but leaving something alone was not in his vocabulary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Black Eyes

He huffed, pulling out a flew flecks of dried onions from his pizza slice. He hated onions, they knew that, but still they always put it on to his pizza. Damn bastards, he scoffed, picking off a few more slices of the horrendous shit, they never listen do they? Sighing he gave up on getting all the flecks of onion off the slice and threw the plate along with the pizza onto the desk in front of him. 

Reaching forward he swiped up the small tablet that was standard with the job. It wasn't very impressive, just functional enough to flip between the cameras, display what each camera saw and that was it. 

When nothing came up onto the screens, the man became a little nervous. Nothing was the worst thing to have happen in this place. Silently he scooted his chair to the left, pressing the button labeled “Light” below it: nothing appeared from the darkness as the light illuminated the space. He did a similar thing to the right, still nothing. It perplexed him, rubbing the side of his jaw, “What the hell?” Picking up the tablet again he flicked to the one room he made sure to keep a close eye on. 

The purple stared curtains were pulled closed, like they had been all night long. Things were getting really worry-some now. For once in his time of working in the place, he got up out of his chair, leaving the tablet on the desk, and moved to the left door, peeking out into the hallway, “Hello?” His voice echoed down the empty hallway, not a movement of sound in response. 

The man mustered up his courage, taking a step past the threshold into the hallway. His fingers twitched a little as he glided through the hall with quick strides, reaching the main room. Glancing side to side, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary besides the fact the three were not on stage, “Where are you guys?” Frowning he continued to search around the place, making his first stop to the kitchen. The camera in there never worked, so if Fazfuck and his friends were hiding in there waiting to jump at him, so help him he would make them rue the day. 

As he expected, the moment the door opened, he was greeted with four loud screeches, the four animatronics presenting themselves in his way. To humor them, he attempted to let out a terrified scream, coming out heavily forced and sarcastic. 

“Awh...” the purple bunny was the one to speak up, ears drooping, “You could have tried to be a bit more scared sounding.” The man rolled his eyes, placing a hand on his hips, “Seriously guys?” he let out a chuckle as he shook his head, “Don't try to make it so obvious what you are doing. You guys are losing your touch.” 

“Or perhaps ye are getting' betta at this Mista Schmidt,” the animatronic fox snarled, crossing hook and arm over his chest, “Ruinin' the fun, ye be.” Grinning the man patted the fox on the head, getting a whine of joy from the animatronic, “You guys really aren't that scary anymore, ya know?” He glanced over to Freddy and Chica, the bear still looking a bit ominous even though the four were no longer seriously hunting him down to stuff him into a suit, “Don't get me wrong, ya still are scary, but not as much as you originally were now that I know ya guys are a bunch of softies.” 

“We're not soft,” Freddy mumbled under his breath, Chica next to him giggling, “We've gotten used to you Mike! You've been working here for so long I can hardly remember who the previous guard was before you!” 

“Ya stuffed him into a suit,” Mike grimaced, thinking about the poor guy before him. Scott was his name, the man who left him messages on the phone to help him stay alive. He still had to check the suits in the back to see if his body was there, it was the least he could do for him. 

Chuckling he felt himself being lifted off the ground, “Chica put me down.” The chicken shook her head, carrying him to the back of the kitchen, “Nope. You are mine now.” He heard behind him a protesting cry, “Chica...” Bonnie hopped right in front of her, hands on his hips, “No kidnapping Mike! We all agreed that we would all have a chance to hang out with him tonight!” 

It was amusing, for once people were actually fighting over who wanted to have him with them. As a kid he was used to the opposite, and even as a young adult he still felt that pain: the last kid to be picked for teams, just because he was a short male and wasn't the best at things, especially as a kid. Now days, he was more athletic and daring that he was as a kid, but people were always put off by his personality. He didn't understand it, but it didn't bother him. Now days, he spent most of his time socializing with the animatronics. 

It still was confusing to him, that after months of being hunted by these possessed suits, that they didn't kill him. Just one day, Bonnie was able to get into his office barely slipping past his guard, but instead of dragging him off into the back room to be stuffed, the giant bunny nuzzled up to him, telling him quietly, “Freddy's coming, you'd better be ready.” It scared the living shit out of him, nearly falling off his chair if it wasn't for the bunny's arms around the chair and his body. 

Mike would have sworn he was dead, but he was still breathing. Next to come in was Chica, and eventually the one who informed him about the change was Foxy, in his strange pirate talk, later translated into English by a combination between Bonnie and Chica. Apparently, they had originally thought him to be their original killer, the man who took away their lives at such a young age. That changed when they learned more about him—especially the time he cussed out a parent one day because they had yelled at their child just because they wanted a plush Bonnie toy. 

“I didn't appreciate the words you said in front of the child, but it was nice of you to protect them,” Was the first thing Freddy had said to him, in that stupid sounding voice that was supposed to be “child friendly” but coming from a killer possessed animatronic, it was terrifying. He still hated that voice. Freddy was the hardest of the group to finally accept him: it took him longer than Foxy, who was pretty much programmed to be stubborn and distrusting. He finally trusted the security guard after a child had sneaked into the facility during the night. 

The poor tyke just wanted to see the place without all the people. The kid was barely over ten, a petite little girl by the name of Alice, who had a social anxiety disorder. Mike couldn't blame the little girl, the sheer amount of people inside the Pizzeria during the day was off putting, making him glad he rarely worked the day shift. But, since the girl was in the facility after hours, it was a dangerous situation. 

He could remember the wide eyes of the child, staring at the three animatronics on the stage. Mike himself had just finished meeting with another of the security guards, a much older male who had been with the company for many years. The guard was giving him a quick update on things that had happened during the day, and incidentally he told Mike about a missing child. 

As the two left the back office they were met with the sight of the small child in front of the stage. The other guard got a look that looked dark, but Mike thought he just saw things. Approaching the child Mike cleared his throat, a few feet in front of the other guard, “Hey,” He made sure to sound casual and as non-threatening as possible. The small girl jumped, hiding behind one of the chairs. 

“It's alright little child,” the other guard, which Mike commonly heard the children call the “Purple Man” much to his dismay, “We won't get mad at you. Your parents are worried sick about you.” Mike still didn't trust the guy, nobody could be that friendly and open without hiding a deep evil secret. He could tell the little girl didn't like him either, pulling closer to the stage rather than the man who held out his hand. Quickly, Mike got between the guard and the little girl, offering her a friendly smile, “He's right, your parents are probably worried sick about you. It's not a good idea to be out so late alone.” Mike offered out his own gloved hand, gently smiling to the girl, “Come on, you can come with me to my office, and we'll call your parents.” 

Hesitatingly the small girl took his hand, her eyes watching the guard behind him. Chuckling Mike piked her up, gently tapping her on the nose, “Oh don't worry about him. He's not as scary as he looks right now during the day. He's a guard, just like me.” The man sneered at him, “Real funny Schmidt.” Sticking out his tongue Mike started towards the security office, “Go home Purple Man, I'll take it from here.” The other guard continued to sneer, but didn't bother arguing, “Fine. Make sure the child gets home.” 

He had to pause, was that sorrow in his voice? Shaking his head, he went to the security office, hearing the back door open and close. Good, he was alone. Just the way he liked it. Focusing on the child he placed her down onto the office chair, kneeling down in front, “What's your name little tyke?” She shyly avoided his gaze, “Alice, sir.” 

“Alright Alice,” Mike smiled, standing up to his full height, checking his wrist watch. The device read that is was a few minutes after midnight, Shit. He swiped up the tablet, flicking to the stage camera view. His heart stopped when there was no sight of Bonnie. By this time the animatronics were not as keen on hunting him down, but they always seemed to act strangely every time the day guard was in, as if they had the same feeling about him as Mike did. 

“Mister,” Alice's quiet voice broke his concentration. He hummed, glancing up from the tablet, “What is it sweetie?” Her small painted finger was pointing towards the left doorway, her eyes wide, “Why is Bonnie's eyes black?” Black? Mike's gaze shot to the doorway, seeing exactly what the little girl said. Bonnie was standing in the doorway, leaning in slightly with his eyes completely black, a pinpoint glowing white speck in the center, “Crap.” 

Mike launched himself at the door button, slamming the thing closed. He needed to talk sense into them, but first he had to make sure the little girl would be safe. Leaning down to Alice, he placed a hand on her knee, “Do you know the number to your home?” The small girl nodded, “Yes,” She held out her arm. Around her wrist was a bracelet that had her name, what she was allergic to—poor girl was allergic to gluten—and eventually her phone number. With little hesitation, Mike closed the other door just in case and picked up the phone. Dialing the number he leaned against the desk, waiting as the phone rang, twirling the cord between his fingers. 

He sighed, waiting between each ring, hoping the parents would pick up already. Each second he was waiting, there was a higher chance of his power to run out and the child to be put in danger, especially when Freddy came around. 

Finally there was a click on the other side, a tired female voice answering. Exhaling in relief, Mike smiled, “Hello, ma'am. My name is Mike Schmidt. Yes, I'm a security guard at Freddy Fazbear's. I think I've found somebody that belongs to you. Yes. Yes, she's alright, she's in the office with me right now. I've got a good eye on her, and she's having some fun playing on the tablet. Yes, I'll continue to watch her as you get over here. Mhmm, it's no problem at all. See you then.” He hung up the phone, looking to the little girl in his chair, “Your mother will be over in a few minutes sweetie. Until then you'll have to stay in here with me.” 

He glanced to the window, noticing that both Bonnie and Chica were glancing into the windows. Unlike before though, their eyes were normal. Bonnie, if he was capable, would be frowning at the moment, tapping his paw against the window, “Hey Mike!” Chica pressed her face against the glass, “Open up!” 

Alice let out a squeak of surprise, holding the tablet up to her face, “Are they going to hurt us?” Chuckling, Mike shook his head, opening up the left door first and then the right. As Bonnie came in his pink-red eyes focused on the little girl, “Oh!” He cried out happily, “I didn't know we had a little guest tonight!” He let out a laugh, turning to Chica, “Chica, we should let Freddy know! He'd love to meet her!” 

“I can meet Freddy?” The little girl's eyes lit up, jumping off the chair, “Please?” She begged, glancing up to Mike. Sighing, he nodded his head, the little girl, and even Bonnie, squealed with excitement, “Come on!” Bonnie cheered, “Freddy will love to meet you!” Taking her small hand in his, Bonnie led her out of the office. 

Chica glanced over to Mike, seeing the worried expression on his face, “Are you alright Mike?” He shook his head, glancing over to the animatronic chicken, “It's nothing. Just,” he paused, “I worry about when your eyes go black. It happens every time the new head guard is in.” Chica shrugged, heading to the doorway, “I didn't notice it.” And went out of the office, leaving Mike alone. 

Sighing, Mike shook his head, dismissing the idea, it must just be coincidence. Though, I don't blame them. That guys is a hardass compared to the other guy from what I have heard. He eventually followed Chica to the main room, entering as Freddy held the little girl up, letting her sit on his shoulder, “I hope you've enjoyed your time here, Alice.” Freddy laughed, the blue animatronic eyes watching her, “We've enjoyed having you here!” The girl giggled, her face in a permanent smile, “I love it here!” Mike chuckled, stopping a foot away from Freddy, “But, that doesn't excuse you being here after hours.” Freddy nodded, “Yes, Mr. Schmidt is right, even if he is being a buzz kill.” 

Grinning Mike placed his hands on his hips, “I'm not a buzz kill, says you Fazbear.” Shaking his head, Mike glanced towards the entrance when he heard the roar of an engine, “Looks like your parents are here sweetie.” He went to the front entrance, unlocking the door for the little girl's mother. She came in quickly, rushing past him, grabbing up Alice, “My little bear! You're alright, thank god!” The woman hugged tightly on her child, looking to Mike, “Thank you so much for finding my daughter. I was so worried I would never see her again.” The guard nodded in reply, tipping his hat, “It was no problem ma'am.” 

The woman gave one last good-bye before heading out into the outside. Smiling, Mike focused on the animatronics, not noticing that Foxy was among them, “You guys didn't hurt her did you?” Foxy was the one to reply, with a growl first, “Mista Schmidt, we would never hurt a wee lass! We only hurt those land lubber adults!” The guard waved his hands, “Alright, alright. No need to bite my head off. It would not be a wonderful experience. It would take a bite out of my time.” Groaning, Freddy moved back onto the stage, “Mr. Schmidt, it's time you returned to your office. We must have our hunt for the night.” 

“Oh fine,” Mike rolled his eyes, “When will it be my turn to hunt one of you guys?” Freddy let out his low laugh, “Perhaps next week. Chica has been interested in trying your job out.” Mike grinned, “Awesome, then I can stuff her into a suit!”


	2. Yellow Feathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to talk about things or people that you have missed out on, or that you have lost. Chica and the others don't quite understand how these things make Mike feel, until it's too much

He let out a heavy sigh, leaning back in the security chair. It was another dull night, but he vastly preferred it over the nights where he was scared for his life, worrying when the power would run out on him and he would be left to die. Mike shuffled through the cameras, watching the animatronics interact with each other through the lens of the dining hall camera. 

A smile came to his face when Chica noticed the camera light blinking and she waved to him. Despite the fact she couldn't see him, he waved back to her. Waiting a few moments, he turned to the right doorway, waiting for the chicken animatronic to come to. When she did Mike grinned, standing up from his chair, “What's up buttercup?” Chica stared at him confused for a couple moments but started to talk, “I wanted to ask you something.” She avoided his gaze, tapping her metal fingers together, “It's just, something has been on my mind lately, and I wanted to see if you knew something about it.” 

Mike nodded slowly before shrugging, “I should be able to take a shot at it. Shoot.” The animatronic cringed a bit at the choice of words from the guard, “Whoops,” Mike chuckled shaking his head, “Sorry wrong word choice. But, ask away.” Chica relaxed and nodded, “I just wanted to know, what is it like to... well, to grow up.” 

“Ask me in a few years and then I'll have an answer for that question,” Mike chuckled, picking up the tablet from habit. Chica tilted her head, coming farther into the office, “What do you mean? Aren't you an adult?” The guard shook his head, flipping through the cameras, “I guess you could consider me an adult, I am twenty-two, but really I don't feel like one most of the time.” He let out a heavy sigh, practically throwing himself back into the chair, “You always thought being an adult meant being so grown up, living on your own, living the dream. It's not as amazing as it seems,” he frowned, flipping through the cameras absentmindedly, “You feel so lonely living out on your own. I couldn't stand it, eventually went back to living with my Ma. She welcomed me back but it still felt embarrassing returning home after you had such a bright beginning in your future.” 

“What changed?” Chica tilted her head, standing in front of the messy black desk. Mike shrugged, finally putting down the tablet, “I just couldn't take the pressure of it all. Trying to pay the bills on this damned pettily salary they pay me here was impossible. Ma always told me that there was a place for me back at home, and eventually I took that offer. Still felt awkward as hell going back after I seemed to have such a hold on my life.” 

The animatronic sighed, tapping her fingers together, “My parents always rushed me to grow up. They wanted me to be strong and independent so I could survive in the world as an adult,” the purple eyes glanced towards the main room where the other animatronics were, “I felt like the most mature out of us all, though I was probably one of the youngest. Foxy was always the bravest of the bunch of us. Freddy was pretty quiet and laid back, but came up with the best plans and ideas for games.” Mike blinked, surprised about the idea that the scary as hell animatronic bear was actually a quiet child who was a brilliant thinker: the latter he could understand but the former was quite different than what he knew of the bear, “So, you never really had a childhood?” 

“Oh I did,” Chica smiled, glancing back to Mike, “Whenever I was out with everyone we had so much fun. Pretending to be pirates! I was the Pirate Princess, working to rescue the captured princess from the evil Captain Blackbeard. Though, after a while, we got tired of that, so we tried other things. Space aliens, cowboys and Indians, though that was the most boring thing we've done, and then we tried a sort of paranormal type thing. It was ironic really...” Her eyes lidded with sorrow, gazing to the ground, “That was a few days before we were killed.” 

“Oh well umm...” Mike itched the back of his head nervously, _that got awkward really quickly._ He cleared his throat, placing the tablet in his lap, “At least you had some good friends. I never had that myself. I was a weak little brat,” he chuckled, leaning back in the chair, “Last to be picked for teams, hell, sometimes they wouldn't even choose me even if they would be down one person on their team.” Chica stared at him with disbelief, “They did that to you?” She covered her beak with her hands gasping, “That's so mean!” 

“Eh,” the guard shrugged, smiling a bit, “I wasn't a fan of sports as a kid. I liked the competition, but I hated working with others. I don't play nice.” The chicken animatronic let out a small giggle, sounding just like a cheerful little girl, “I can see that. You were not very nice to us back then.” He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, “You guys were trying to kill me.” 

“Yeah but you didn't have to flip us off every time you closed the doors in our faces.” Chica huffed, crossing her own arms over her chest, “And don't get me started on the profanity that came out of your mouth. And still comes out! You have the mouth of a sailor.” In response to the words, Mike's smirk grew, “That's what you get for trying to get a bite of Mike Schmidt. You will get my full power of curse words and rude gestures, especially Goldie. He got the worst of my wrath.” 

“She,” Chica corrected him. 

“Huh?” Mike glanced to the animatronic puzzled. 

“Golden Freddy is a she,” Chica corrected him, “Well, the spirit is anyways. The suit itself has no gender.” A frown formed on his face, replacing the previous smirk, “Jeez, how many kids did that bastard kill?” He realized his mistake, mentioning their killer, “Sorry, sorry.” He waved his hands frantically as the animatronic's eyes started to go black, “Don't mention the asshole.” 

“Profanity Mr. Schmidt,” Freddy's voice drifted from the main room. 

“Eat a dick, Fazfuck,” He called back to the animatronic as he got up from the chair, leaning out the right-side door. Quickly he ducked back into the room, closing the door behind him. He glanced to Chica, pointing to the door, “Just in case.” 

“You sound like Mr. Fitzgerald,” Freddy mumbled from the main room, quiet enough that Mike didn't hear a lot of the words. 

Chica shook her head, “Freddy's not going to bother coming for you. Tonight is not a hunting night.” Although the words were reassuring, he didn't open the door right away. After a few heartbeats he opened the door, returning to the chair, “Are you guys ever not going to be hunting me? I mean, you at least don't try to stuff me into a Fazbear suit, but Bonnie's hugs are pretty crushing. Literally,” Mike rubbed his arms in the memory of the animatronic bunny's arms around his torso and arms, crushing him under the grip of the hug, “He forgets a lot that I am not like you guys. I have flesh.” 

“He's just happy to be the one to get you,” Chica laughed, glancing towards the direction of the main room, “So far he's winning the game of 'who gets to Mike first.'” The guard smiled, liking the idea of for once being the center of attention, “Oh, nice. Who's in last place?” He paused, then chuckled waving a hand, “No, no, let me guess. Freddy's in last place.” The animatronic laughed, nodding in response, “Yup. Though his path to you is much more precise and complicated than ours.” 

Chica glanced out the door, noticing that the others were starting to argue, Mike speaking up, “Yeah I noticed that. He spends most of his time on the stage until later in the night, then he slowly makes his way to the office, with his weird little laughs.” The guard grimaced, trying to imitate the low laugh Freddy would emit as the animatronic moved precariously to the office. It was a horrible failure, and he could feel the burning glare from the animatronic bear though the walls, “He's really going to get me now.” 

“You're getting close,” Chica laughed, focusing back on Mike, “But,” She hesitated in her words, “Is growing up really that bad? We've never been fond of adults, they were always looking down upon us, like we were ignorant little brats who didn't know anything. Even after our...” the animatronic cringes, skipping over the words—of course both parties knew what she was referring to, “We disliked adults even more. I feel horrible for what we did to the last security guard. We were so focused on our revenge we didn't realize it was a different man. We recognized him: he worked with him before. They were friends... I remember seeing them talking together in a friendly chat. I never understood,” Chica turned her gaze away from Mike, eyelids drooping, “how such a person could be so nice on the outside and so evil on the inside. Now days, we can't remember how he looks. We just know he wears that purple uniform. The sly, dangerous grin...” 

The animatronic's eyes were starting to go black as she continued, staring down at the ground. 

“Hey,” Mike snapped her out of the trance, snapping his fingers not too close to her face, “Chica, come back girl.” Her eyes snapped back up to focus on Mike, returning to their normal state, “Oh,” She shyly glanced to the side, “Sorry. I got into a fit...” The guard shrugged, standing up from the chair, “It's alright, I do that a lot myself. How about we go into the kitchen and make some Pizza?” 

“Sounds awesome!” Chica smiled, jumping up and down a little with excitement, “I've been meaning to teach some of the employees how to make the pizzas like me, but I haven't been too good at instructing them.” 

“I can pretend to be an ignorant child and you can teach me how to make it,” Mike joked, following the animatronic out from the security room into the hallway, “Should also check to see if the camera in the kitchen can be fixed.” 

“There is a camera in the kitchen?” Chica glanced back to Mike as she led them into the kitchen, “I've never seen one in here.” Mike examined the room, his blue eyes focusing on the mount, “Damn it.” He cursed under his breath, seeing that there was the mount for the camera but no camera there—just a few wires hanging out frayed at the ends, “Which one of you guys yanked off the camera?!” Mike yelled out into the main room, glaring in the direction of the other three animatronics. 

“As I be recallin,” Foxy piped up, tapping his hook against his chin, “It was Mista Fi-” He was jabbed in the gut by a purple elbow, “What?” The pirate's eyes narrowed at his purple bunny compatriot, “What was that for?” 

“We don't talk about him around,” Bonnie looked to Mike, signaling that he was referring to Mike, “Remember?” Foxy huffed, crossing arm and hook over his chest, “Fine, fine.” The yellow eyes went back to Mike, “It was another employee.” 

“Seriously guys?!” Anger rose in Mike's voice, catching all four animatronics by surprise, “You act like saying his name is taboo! Maybe if you say it enough he may come back and kill us all!” The guard glared at all of them, “Fuck you all.” 

With that he whipped around, storming off into the security room. Fuming, he slammed his fists against the door buttons on both sides before collapsing into the rolling chair. Rolling it to the back of the room, out of the sight of the two windows he brought his legs up to his chest, wrapping his hands around his knees. 

As his anger began to boil down, tears started to threaten to pour out from his eyes, “Fuck them all...” He sniffed, burying his head into his knees. He hated it. It was an uncontrollable reaction to hearing that name, to hear the animatronics speak of the name like it was a horror to even dare speak his name. 

“Fuck I miss you Jeremy....”

Chica slowly wandered out of the kitchen, glancing to the other animatronis, "He's really taken it hard hasn't he?" She frowned, stopping next to Bonnie. The animatronic bunny nodded sadly, glancing towards the security office, hearing the doors slam shut, "They were really close with each other." 

"Well," Freddy eyed all three of them, "Perhaps it would be best not to refer to Mr. Fitzgerald in such a way. We cannot coddle Mike, and we can't bring such distaste towards Mr. Fitzgerald's legacy." The bear narrowed his eyes until the other three nodded in understanding, "Good. Now," he turned around, heading back to the stage, "We should leave Mr. Schmidt alone for the night with his thoughts. He's going to need more time to reflect on the events and his emotions." The animatronic hoisted himself up onto the stage, taking his place towards the front, "You should follow suit." 

Foxy frowned, letting out a defeated _arrr_ before sauntering over to the Pirate's Cove, "It be best." The pirate took one last glance towards the office before shutting the purple-starred curtains. The remaining two animatronics exchange a glance, before Bonnie spoke up, "I forget how it is to have such emotions..." His magenta eyes fall back to the office similar to the other animatronics' gazes did, "Mike's so emotional over what happened to Jeremy." 

"I don't blame him," Chica sighed, clasping her hands together as she stared at the ground, "They were extremely close with each other, like we were when we were alive. I think they were planning to move in together to help with rent and other things. I heard Mike talking about it." 

"You mean like?" Bonnie perked up his ears, gazing at Chica slightly confused, "Like live together like our parents did?" 

"Maybe not like that," Chica giggled a little, deciding finally to head up onto the stage, especially after a glare from Freddy was shot towards the two, "But who knows. Come on," She stood in her position to the right of Freddy, still watching Bonnie, "We don't have much time before the night shift is over." Reluctantly Bonnie nodded, taking one last glance towards the security office before hoisting himself onto the stage and in position. He picked up his guitar, running his fingers across the thin strings before settling into his position, "I'm so sorry Mike..." 

Mike didn't dare move from his position, the tears now staining his dark purple pants. His head jerks up, hearing the sound of the front door opening. Was it already six? He glanced to the watch around his wrist, seeing that it was indeed six, in fact a few minutes after. _Ugh_ , he wiped away the remaining tears on his face with his gloved palm, _That means I have to deal with the asshole..._ He stood up slowly, dragging the chair with him back to the desk. Without much care he hard-shut down the tablet, leaving the office lights on as he opened only the left door to exit. 

He hated getting overemotional on the animatronics, but he couldn't have taken it anymore. It hadn't been long since his friend left, but it was still too short of time to move on. 

The damned animatronics were insensitive sometimes. He knew they didn't understand since they were just machines, but he expected at least for them to vaguely understand since they were possessed by the spirit of dead children. Children were always known to be emotional, so they should fucking understand. 

He wiped away a few more tears with his gloved hand, before bumping into another body. Avoiding eye contact he glanced at the man's tie instead. 

"Schmit," The voice came out slightly annoyed as Mike didn't meet eyes with the Head Guard, "You left the light on," The man was barely able to finish his words before noticing the drying tears and stains on his clothing, "Were you crying?" 

"Go fuck yourself Miles," Mike sneered at him, taking a step back before quickly passing him by on the left, heading directly to the front doors. The Head Guard growled under his breath, glaring at Mike as the other left the facility, "You're a real prick aren't you...? What got you so upset?


	3. Purple Ears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New ideas always brings up the past ideas, and one of these ideas gets rejected. Bonnie wants something inside the facility, but would it be alright to have it in a children's pizzeria?

“Come on Mike,” the mechanical voice whined at him. The human himself was standing in front of the stage where the three main animatronics stood, the bunny animatronic standing right in front of him, “Why not?” 

“Because it's a horrible idea!” Mike huffed, throwing his hands up into the air, “Do you know how bad it will look if we are caught?” The purple bunny tilted his head, ears lopping to the side, “How bad would it look if somebody caught us?” 

“Pretty damn bad,” he replied, “Especially if the head guard was the one to catch us.” Mike had to hold back a hardy laugh when the bunny looked annoyed and almost disgusted at the mention of the guard, “He's a real buzz kill. He should learn to loosen up a bit and have some fun.” He snorted at the remark, unable to hold it in, “He's where fun goes to die. Guy never legit smiles,” the guard snickered, holding up a hand as he talked, “Like a fucking snake man. He lures you in with that sly fake smile, then bites you with those venomous teeth.” 

“But that's still a no on the other thing?” Bonnie piped in before Mike went on a rant about the head guard. The animstronics even knew that Mike had a habit of going on about the man who was one of his bosses: ever since the disappearance of his friend Mike trusted his coworkers less and less, and trusted the animatronics more and more. His only friends were murderous animatronics possessed by the spirits of dead children. This made Bonnie happy, but for Mike it made him feel a little sad deep inside. 

“Still a no,” Mike shook his head, chuckling a little. The animatronic bunny huffed like a small child getting ready to throw a tantrum, “But Mike!” He drew on the guard's name, giving him puppy eyes. Rolling his eyes he crossed his arms back over his chest, “Answer's no Bonnie, that's the end of it. I know ya really want to do it, but we can't afford having to deal with that inside the Pizzeria. This is a child friendly facility.” 

“What's going on?” Another low mechanical voice spoke up from the backstage storage, “Bonnie, are you bothering Mr. Schmidt?” 

“No,” The magenta eyes darted back and forth, avoiding the gaze of the blue eyes of the animatronic bear as he emerged from the backstage storage room, “Not at all.” When the animatronic bunny finally glanced to Freddy, his ears drooped, “Yes...” 

“You know Mr. Schmidt has a job to do,” Freddy simply stated as he approached the two, also glancing to Mike, “Right Mr. Schmidt?” Grinning a little Mike shrugged, letting his hands rest at his sides, “Eh, really since tonight isn't a 'hunting night' I don't have to worry about you guys going bonkers weird. No need to check the cameras.” 

“Your job is to make sure nobody breaks into the facility in the night,” Freddy plainly responded, animatronic eyes half lidded, “Not to keep us in.” In response to Freddy Mike let out a burst of laughter, “Actually,” he began to correct the animatronic bear, holding up a finger, “I think it was more to make sure you guys didn't maul somebody if they did break in. They really don't need me to guard the place when they have four-” he paused, looking to Bonnie, “Well at least three terrifying animatronics inside the facility.” 

“I'm terrifying,” Bonnie pouted next to him his ears drooping. Mike chuckled patting the side of the bunny's head, “Yes you are, but normally you are a sweetheart. That's why I like ya man: you look soft and cuddly, but during the night you can be terrifying when you stare at the cameras with those... weird eyes.” He didn't know how to explain the eyes Bonnie would get when he decided to stare up close and personal with the camera in the backstage storage. 

“What were you two discussing?” Freddy hummed, interrupting their conversation before it got any further, crossing his large arms over his chest. Bonnie's ears perked up, the words flowing quickly off his mouth, “I was asking Mike if we could bring in something from outside and let them wander around the facility during the night!” 

“It's still a horrible idea,” Mike huffed rolling his eyes, “Bringing in a whole litter of bunnies is an equation for disaster, especially during the night shift! They are tiny animals Bonnie. You'd probably crush one of them in your hands if you get too excited holding it. Besides, they'll just hide and poop everywhere. They'd be breaking one of the rules of the Pizzeria.” 

“Bonnie...” Freddy sighed, shaking his head, “You know the policy about animals in the facility.” The bunny animatronic pouted, looking off to the side, “I know, but it's during the night shift, it'd be okay since there really isn't rules during the night shift.” 

“The night shift isn't time for unlawful roughhousing and shenanigans,” Mike rolled his eyes. When Freddy snorted, he shot a small glare at the animatronic bear, “What's that for?” 

“Shall I remind you about the night you had with Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Miles?” Freddy hummed amused, “I would have to say that was the very definition of 'shenanigans.” The guard went silent, still holding up a finger to retort, but lowered it in defeat, “Alright, so there can be shenanigans, but,” he looked back to Bonnie, “Little bunnies running around the facility—since you want to get more than one,” he added on a number for effect, “So like, ten bunnies. That means I would have to find all ten of them, not only find where to buy ten bunnies, but find a way to transport them to the Pizzeria, then catch them all before 6 A.M. And then what would I do with them?” 

“Love each and every one of them,” Bonnie nodded in confirmation. Mike shot another glare, this one directed at Bonnie, “I barely have enough room to live in my room with Ma, I wouldn't be able to fit ten bunnies in there! And I don't think my mother would like me having ten balls of fluff running around.” 

“I loved bunnies so much as a kid,” Bonnie smiled, clasping his large animatronic hands together, “I always wanted one as a kid, but my parents didn't want pets. We had a dog once, but they got rid of her since they didn't want to take care of it.” Then, the upbeat animatronic's ears dropped, letting out a sad sigh, “Sometimes I wonder if my parent paid off or killer to get rid of me...” 

“Wholly shit kid,” Mike blinked, he didn't know what else to do. He was deeply taken aback by what the animatronic bunny said, “I don't think anyone would want their child murdered by a psychopath,” his words didn't seem to convince the bunny, “Here.” Mike waved for Bonnie to follow him, “I want to show you something.” 

Curiosity got the best of the bunny as he followed Mike back to one of the back rooms where employees stored their belongings during work, “What are we doing back here?” Bonnie quarried as the top of his ears brushed against the doorway. The guard gave a grin back to him before going over to one of the lockers, “You'll see.” 

“Awh, but I hate waiting,” Bonnie whined, stepping up next to Mike, glancing at which locker he was going into. The magenta eyes fell on the name next to the locker he was going into, “That's not your locker though,” a purple animatronic finger pointed to the name tag on the locker next to it, “That one is.” Giving Bonnie an unamused look over his shoulder, he sighed, “I can read thank you very much. But what I want to show you is in here. The employee,” he gulped, correcting himself with his tone somber, “Jeremy, gathered a lot of information about the case involving your guys' deaths.” 

“He wanted to know about our deaths?” Bonnie tilted his head to the side, leaning in closer to Mike, his large head nearly resting on top of Mike's head, “Why did he look into it? I thought that case was closed.” 

“I don't know why he did myself,” the night guard sighed, finally getting the combination right, “And management hasn't even bothered to look into his disappearance or bother giving his belongings to his family.” 

“How could they?” The animatronic gasped, looking shocked and appalled, “Did they at least inform his family about what happened? At least they would know what happened to him and mourn him, unlike my family,” he added the last bit lower than the rest. Shaking his head Mike began to rummage through the various papers and VHS tapes stashed away in the locker. On the inside of the locker door was a few pictures of Jeremy with a little girl about half his age, and one or two with the blond haired guard and Mike, mostly of Jeremy looking pissed and Mike giving his classic dorky grin. 

“I put those ones up,” Mike noticed Bonnie looking at the picture containing both guards, “He was unhappy when I took the pictures and unhappy when I put them up in his locker as a surprise. There was one of him, myself and Mr. Miles, but he ripped that one down and burned it a few days before he disappeared...” The cheerful tone left the guard as he began to talk about his friend before he lost him, “He showed me all this stuff before he was gone, said I need to keep working on it and find out the killer. He said it was the only way to save them.” 

“Oh,” Bonnie itched the back of his head, blinking, “That's an odd thing to say. Jeremy was acting a little weird when we saw him before the night shift. He did mention the name Caleb in his mumbling a couple times.” 

“Caleb?” Mike rose an eyebrow, picking out a VHS tape labeled “Missing Children: Families” then closed the locker, “That's the name of the kid who got his head munched on by Fredbear back in Fredbear's diner. Only person who worked there or even went to that damned place that still works here is the Head Guard. I don't think Jeremy visited that place as a kid,” Mike glanced over to Bonnie before heading to the room's exit, the animatronic bunny following him, “Said he, in his words 'fucking hated that golden fuck bag with the top hat.'” 

“Sounds like him,” Bonnie nodded, only a few steps away from Mike, “What's in that tape?” The large purple animatronic finger poked the VHS tape in Mike's hand, “It says...” the animatronic eyes narrowed to get a better look at it, “Wait!” The eyes shot wide at the words, “'Missing Children: Families?' Is this...?” Mike nodded to the animatronic, stepping into the security office, “Come on, wanna bring the others, or do you want time alone to see it, so ya know,” The guard grinned at the mechanical bunny, “So you can have ya feels without your masculinity being even more questioned.” 

“I...” Bonnie paused, ears slightly drooping, “I want to see it alone,” Mike began to head out of the room before he was stopped by the voice, “Without the others. I want you here.” 

“Me?” He pointed a finger to his face, giving the bunny his usual dorky grin, “I'll be the one making the statements about your lost masculinity if ya cry,” He paused, seeing the reflection of sorrow in the magenta eyes, softening his tone, “Just kidding, Bonnie. I'll be here for support.” Perking up a little, Bonnie flopped his large body onto the rolling chair used for the security guard why Mike popped the tape into the player, smashing the play button a few times. 

When the screen flickered to life, Mike stepped back to sit in the chair, instead sitting on the animatronic, “Hey,” The bunny laughed, “Occupied.” Chuckling Mike gave the animatronic a playful slap on the side of the head, “This is the guard's chair, and who's the guard here?” He knew the answer before the bunny even spoke it, “Me.” Rolling his eyes Mike turned his attention to the screen, signaling for Bonnie to do the same. 

As the images came to life on the screen, a mid-aged couple came onto the screen as well both with jet black hair, the woman slightly shorter than the male, both fairly built. At their image the animatronic bunny perked up, his ears drooping quickly after, “That's...” he did the animatronic equivalent of a gulp, “That's my parents...” 

It was hard to see the woman's face because she mostly had it buried either in her own hands or pressed against her husband's chest as he held an arm across her back comfortingly. Then a disembodied voice spoke up, “How has your family been dealing with this disappearance?” 

The husband was the one to speak, “It's devastated us,” his voice was low, both that and his eyes yelling out that he was holding back ugly sobs, “We thought he ran away because he was mad at us, because he didn't come back from his friend's birthday party at Freddy Fazbear's but once he didn't come home the next couple of days we got really worried. And when his friends' parents were asking the same questions the worst came to reality. Somebody,” the man paused, a few tears slipping past despite his best efforts, with a chock in his voice he continued, “Some bastard took our boy from us! This bastard took away children from their family! I may have been tough on the boy, but I loved him. He was my son. And I'll make sure that son of a bitch gets what he deserves.” 

Then the section of the tape ends, bringing up another couple, the woman had blond hair why the husband had brown hair, the disembodied voice speaking up again, “What are you going to about the news that your children could very well likely be dead?” Before the woman could answer, Bonnie tried to lean forward without knocking stuff over, hitting Mike in the back of the head in the process of lifting his arm, “Ow,” Mike rubbed the back of his head, looking to Bonnie before the bunny turned off the video, “Don't want to see the rest?” 

Bonnie shook his head, leaning back in the chair as it creaked under the animatronic's weight, “Nah,” he shook his large head, “I don't want to pry into what my friends' family felt. If they want to share what they said, I'll let them. But...” Bonnie trailed off, glancing to the now black screen, his eyes slightly glazing over in deep thought, “I... I didn't know my father could cry.” 

“Real men cry,” Mike shrugged, leaning against the chest of the animatronic bunny, “If he isn't a crying type of guy, it means that he really, really sad about the loss of ya. If it's extreme enough to make him cry, it's big.” His blue eyes glanced to the bunny, smiling a little, “But, it means that they defiantly didn't pay off the guy to kill ya. Did ya hear the way he said he was going to make the bastard pay? He's all serious.” 

“Thanks Mike,” Bonnie glanced to the guard resting on him, “Thank you for showing me this. It really helped lift my spirits, knowing that my parents really miss me. It doesn't help me feel horrible for putting them through this...” 

Mike shot the animatronic a small glare, rolling his eyes seconds afterwards, “Come on Bonnie, you couldn't have predicted that some a-hole would kill ya guys. Not like you woke up saying 'hey! Today I'm going to get murdered at Freddy Fazbear's!'” He chuckled, glancing up at the clock reading 5:50AM, “Welp time for you to get back onto stage.” 

“Awh, alright,” Bonnie sighed, getting up with the guard still leaning on him. As Mike crashed to the floor, the bunny gasped, picking him up quickly off the floor, “Sorry!” Mike gave the animatronic a faked unhappy look, before shooing him away with a hand, “Go on, get back onto the stage you fluff butt. I need to get stuff ready for the day shift.” Nodding, Bonnie waved goodbye to Mike and hopped out of the room. 

Once alone, Mike sauntered over to the small player, pressing the button to release the VHS tape, taking one last glance to the label—more specifically the handwriting, “What the hell were you doing Jeremy, and why the hell were you so secretive about it?” Sighing, the guard powered down everything that was not supposed to be on—he didn't want the boss to get pissed that he left unnecessary power drainers on, even though the fan was the most useless power drainer since it was the middle of fall. 

Once everything was off and ready for the day shift, Mike meandered back to the employee lockers, “Better put this back.” He didn't see much use keeping the things hidden since their owner was gone, but he didn't want to break the last promise he ever gave his best friend. 

Silently Mike opened the locker, placing the tape right back where he got it. On closing the locker, his eye catches the photos on the inner side of the locker door, seeing the only picture that had ever recorded the blond haired guard smiling: it was him with a younger girl up on his shoulders, both smiling and laughing with each other. The little girl was his sister Abigail, one of the few people who could make Jeremy smile and act like a dork. He hated to think about how his family, especially sweet Abigail was taking his death. 

Shaking his head, he gently closed the locker, “I'll figure out what the hell you meant by all this, and then I'll figure out what happened to you. I promise you that, man.” Turning he felt something on his back brush against the lockers, “Huh?” After a few attempts of grabbing at his back his fingers met with a piece of paper. He quickly pulled it off his back and brought it to view, seeing it was a small sticky-note, and written on it was 'I still want those bunnies -Bonnie.' 

Rolling his eyes, Mike walked into the main room, sticking the note onto Bonnie's chest, “Ya still ain't getting those bunnies, bunny boy.”


	4. Violet Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike finds himself talking more about his lost friend, and in the mean time has to juggle both his daytime life and nighttime life as he works on dealing with the loss of his friend.

The first thing he didn't expect when he walked in for the night shift that day, was him. Head Guard Miles, sitting in the main room upon one of the recently set up tables, arms crossed over his chest with that usual face that yelled sass and rudeness. Groaning as his shoulders slouched, Mike approached his boss, his words coming out as a whine, “What is it now?” 

The other man sneered lightly, rolling his eyes, “Why is it that everything that comes out of your mouth is either a pun or whining?” 

Mike couldn't help but grin a little at the remark, “Because you bring the best and worst out of me.” 

Miles brushed off the remark, talking in his usual suspiciously sweet and nice voice, “Listen Mr. Schmidt, there's a few things we need to talk about relating to work.” 

“Oh great,” the night guard rolled his eyes leaning against one of the near by tables, mimicking the other man as he crossed his arms over his chest, “Who complained about me this time? Was it Foxy or Freddy?” It wasn't yet midnight—about thirty minutes before said time—so he didn't have to worry about either animatronic glaring at him for that. 

However, he did get the glare from the man across form him, “No. There is nobody to complain about you in the night shift Schmidt. It's another topic.” There was a heavy hint of distaste in the man's voice. 

Mike could never figure out this guy. Barney Miles, who know how old the fuck was, but he wasn't the youngest guy around since he had worked at Fredbear's Diner back in the day when it was running. He was such a nice guy around the children, almost too nice, but when it came to adults and other employees he wasn't full of smiles and cheer; he was almost the opposite for the employees: bitter at times, his words were nice, but there was a sinister and cruel undertone to them. 

A few months ago if someone asked him if he got along with Barney, Mike would have smiled and said “Of course! Jeremy, him and I are like brothers, we may bicker and pick at each other but we still love each other.” Obviously that was just his opinion, since according to the blond haired guard Miles wasn't exactly fond of Mike, but that didn't stop the black haired man from liking Barney. 

“Then what is the topic to discuss?” Mike hummed, glancing over towards Pirate's Cove. His attention was returned to the other when Barney let out an annoyed growl. 

Once the blue eyes were watching the cold blue eyes of the other man, Barney began his lecture, “First of all we're going to need you to come in during one of the day shifts. We had another employee quit due to some unforeseen circumstances.” 

Mike rose an eyebrow, questioning aloud, “Who was it?” 

“John,” Barney simply replied with a distinct lack of emotions in his expression, but didn't bother to continue on further about the lost employee, “We can either set you up for the morning right after six or for the evening shift from four until closing, so either way you don't have to leave and come back so early.” 

“Oh how considerate of you,” Mike grinned a little, “Did it hurt your heart to be so nice to me?” 

The head guard sneered even more at him, finally showing his anger, “What is your problem Schmidt?” Barney shot up onto his feet, standing almost a foot taller than the short guard, “You seem to really have something against me for who knows why, and it's getting a little tiresome. So,” he took a step closer to Mike, eyes narrowing,”What is your deal?” 

The night guard's blue eyes remained half closed, not even a flinch coming from the shorter male, “I don't understand quite what you mean by that. I haven't had beef with you if that's what you think. I've just got a lot on my mind since Jeremy disappeared, ya know?” He blinked, feeling sadness well up inside the pit of his chest, “I just wish I knew what happened to him.” 

To his surprise, the head guard frowned, something that seemed like legit sorrow, “I understand that,” he sighed, the cold blue eyes seeming to soften with sorrow, hiding something beneath it, “It's a horrible loss, and unfortunate that we don't know what happened to him. Jeremy was a good guard in both locations and will be greatly missed.” 

This was another surprise to Mike, the other seemed to only speak of Jeremy as if he was just a coworker and nothing more, “Miles!” He snapped at him louder than what he wanted, “You were friends with Jeremy for fuck's sake!” He nearly threw his arms up into the air, barely missing from smacking the other in the nose, “You make it sound like he was some other schmuck who worked here! He was our friend! Don't you even want to figure out what happened to him, to bring peace to his soul and those who cared about him?” 

Barney blinked, shocked for a second by Mike's reaction. As it started to settle in the shock faded back to his normal demeanor, “It's not that I don't care for Jeremy, Schmidt—I do—but there isn't much we can do for him. Nobody knows what happened to him. For all they know he met the same fate as those kids all those years ago. It's not good to waste time chasing something that we'll never find hints of, let alone finding it all.” 

“So you're not going to do shit?” Mike hissed, puffing out his chest as he spoke, “You're just going to live your life like Jeremy never even existed? 'He's dead let's just forget about him and move on with our lives!' Hell no!” He sneered, pointing a finger accusingly towards Barney, “I think you just don't want to admit you miss him, that you wish he was still here! You miss Jeremy Fitzgerald! You miss all the shenanigans we would get into both during the shifts and outside of work!” 

“Schmidt!” Barney snapped at him, raising an arm as if to hit the other, but as quickly as it rose, the hand dropped. The head guard took a deep breath before speaking again, “I admit it, I do miss him, but we cannot dwell on his disappearance.” He shot a glare down to Mike before continuing, “Do you think he would be happy if we dwell on him? I don't think he would want that at all. He'd say some nice choice words and other vile things that would translate to him not wanting us to dwell on it, to move on with our lives and don't fuck up.” 

Mike frowned, feeling a little put off by the words, _would Jeremy really think that? It kind of sounds like him, but he'd be a bit more vengeful than that. If it was murder, he'd want us to find out who did it and take off their testicles_. He chuckled a little, even when he thought about Jeremy it involved violence and something to do with vulgar remarks. The guard did notice the slight raise of the other's eyebrow, but brushed off both that action and his earlier thought, “I don't think that's quite what Jeremy would want. He'd rather us find out who did it and wring their necks with their own intestines.” 

“A colorful image,” Barney grimaced, “But not too far off.” The head guard shook his head, quickly checking the watch wrapped around his wrist, “Anyways, the other thing I wanted to speak to you about is about Fitzgerald. Tomorrow his family is coming over to get his things. Mr. Paine finally informed them about what happened—the Fazbear Entertainment version of it all sugar coated and full of lies—and they are going to get his stuff. This includes everything in his locker and what's left around the place. Make sure to gather it all in the locker,” Barney paused, eyeing the black haired guard for a moment, “Which means anything you've taken from his stuff also has to be put there.” 

“Fine,” Mike sighed, placing a hand into his pocket, “I'll make sure things are all ready for them when they get here,” he glanced up, “When are they coming?” 

Barney chuckled, returning to a relaxed position as he leaned against the table, instead of sitting on it like he previously was, “after six, and they would like us both to be there, since we were friends with him.” 

Mike smiled a bit, he knew the head guard saw Jeremy as a friend. Nodding, Mike gave the man a two finger salute, “Will do Mr. Miles. I'll try not to fall asleep why they are here.” Rolling his eyes, Barney stood up for one final time, giving Mike a small pat on the shoulder. He didn't say anything more, only giving him a small smile—one of his strangely sympathetic, happy smiles that hid something sinister underneath them—before heading to the entrance. Over his shoulder, the head guard gave him a small wave before exiting out the front doors, leaving the guard alone. 

Nearly the second Barney left, the clock chimed midnight, and the next moment Freddy and his friends staggered to life. Bonnie was the first to fully respond, his eyes flickering around until they fell onto Mike. The magenta eyes brightened as the bunny jumped down from the stage with a thud before picking up the guard in a large hug, “Mike!” The cheerful voice bellowed, swaying the guard side to side in the hug. Mike squeaked in the grip, feeling his muscles ache under the grip of the animatronic's hug. When the squeak echoed out enough, Bonnie let him go gently, plopping him back down onto the ground, “Sorry.” 

“It's alright,” Mike chuckled glancing over to Freddy and Chica as they came down from the stage, much calmer than the bunny, “So what are you guys up for doing tonight?” 

Freddy hummed as he stepped down to the floor, his heavy steps echoing through the empty facility, “Do you expect us to have something planned Mr. Schmidt?” He adjusted the hat above his head, glancing over towards the guard. 

Mike shrugged his shoulders, “I was thinking you guys wanted to watch that video I showed Bonnie the other day, ya know, see about your parents and what they thought and all. Tonight's going to be the last night to watch it if you want, in the morning the stuff's going to be hauled off.” He felt a little awkward as all animatronic eyes focused on him. He was used to them watching him, but not this intensely, especially considering that Freddy was watching him even more than usual, “I mean...” Mike paused, itching his arm nervously, “If you guys want to do that. Otherwise we can do something else.” 

Chica, as the normal chipper bird she was, laughed a little at his nervous actions, “There's no need to be nervous Mike. We understand that you're just curious... Just that...” She stopped, glancing over to Freddy. 

“We'd rather not see their sorrow and their loss,” Freddy plainly stated, arms crossed over his chest, “Our deaths have pained our families greatly, we know this to be true. What we don't need to see the pain we have caused them for our own eyes. Chica, Foxy and myself have voiced that we do not wish to see the video.” Freddy sighed mechanically, shaking his head, “It reminds me too much of the past, something I can never go back to. We are not the kids we were before our deaths, and will never be them again, not until we are freed, but even then...” Freddy stopped, pausing before he continued, “Even then we will never be what we were before. I'll be Freddy Fazbear until the day I am finally free, never again the child I was.” 

Mike frowned a little, itching the back of his head, “Well... that's a little, uh,” his frown became even deeper, turning his gaze away from the animatronics, “That is really sad to be honest. Like, really sad. Not like 'oh I lost my favorite pen and I'm sad about it' more like 'I have a hole in my heart that eats away at my very soul that pulls me into a pit of sorrow that I can never climb out of as the darkness chews on my heart and the whole pressure of my life weighs me down' kind of sad.” 

Chica giggled at Mike's long rambling, shaking her large head, “You're so dramatic Mike. I don't think it's that bad,” she glanced to Freddy then to Bonnie. Then she turned towards the opposite wall from the stage, seeing Foxy walk over to the group. She gave him a wave then continued, “We may no longer be children, mortal or alive, but we aren't exactly dead.” 

Foxy snorted at her comment as he stepped up next to Bonnie and Mike, hook and hand crossed over his chest, “When me parents talked about death after me grandfather died, they only spoke of heaven, that when we pass, we go onto tha afterlife. If this be what the afterlife is, then there isn't a place after death and we all linger back on this place.” 

“We're not in the afterlife Foxy,” Bonnie mimicked him, crossing his purple arms across his chest just below his red bow tie, “We're still on Earth, just not mortal and flesh anymore. We linger back here on Earth because we are trapped in the suits.” 

The pirate animatronic rolled the single eye not covered by an eye patch, tapping the hook against his arm, “Ya ever hear the story about tha spirit that is killed with great anger and fear that comes back from the dead, killin' everyone who enters the place? Perhaps we be kind of like that, just not be killin' everyone we come across: mostly just night guards.” 

"Oh, I know that part well," Mike grinned at the joke he had to add in, "It's very personal to me." 

Chica smiled a little, “You mean like Ju-on.” The four others glanced to her, a bit confused. She giggled, clasping her hands together, “It's Chinese for 'curse' or 'grudge.' It's the curse of one who dies in the grip of powerful rage. It gathers and takes effect in the places that person was alive.” 

“How do you know so much about that?” Mike rose an eyebrow, curious about the seemingly random knowledge the chicken had, “Did you like study it or something?” 

In response Chica shrugged, focusing her gaze on Mike, “It was something that kind of perked my interest.” 

Bonnie snorted a little, flopping his ears to the side, “You always were interested in the weirdest things,” the bunny leaned down to Mike whispering to him, “She was a little morbid back in the day if you ask me. She did find Chinese to be quite interesting is more the case though. Plus one of her parents visited China before they were married and had a few trinkets from there. Mostly what got her interested in it.” 

“Ah,” Mike grinned, “So she's not just some strange kid who wanted to check out what horrible creepy stuff could be found.” The chicken rolled her eyes, and if it was possible she would have stuck out her tongue at the two males. Grinning some more, Mike patted Bonnie on the side of the head before turning around, heading towards the kitchen. 

“Mike,” the guard perked up, confused that the one to use his first name was Freddy. He was used to Freddy using only his last name in the most formal of manners, so when the animatronic bear used his first name it was a strange feeling, “May I inquire what you and that man were talking about?” The large animatronic stepped up next to him, the blue eyes staring down at him, “It seemed quite heated with how you raised your voice.” 

The night guard sighed, turning around to face the animatronic, “You heard my voice raise so didn't you hear the conversation?” At the shake of the brown head, Mike sighed, leaning his weight onto one of his legs, “We were talking about Jeremy.” 

Freddy nodded slowly, a deep thoughtful look in his eyes, “I see, and why did Mr. Fitzgerald come up?” 

“His family is coming to get his things in the morning. The asshole boss decided to finally tell his family that he's gone and probably won't be coming back, of course sugar coated with the usual Fazbear Entertainment crap.” Mike sighed, waving his hand, “But they want myself and the head guard to be there since we were the only friends Jeremy made here.” 

“It's good that you will be there,” Freddy hummed, “You and Mr. Fitzgerald got along very well together from what we could see, even if he was harsh on you the first few weeks you came back after being fired for tampering with us, even though that was a full lie,” Freddy added in the last part amused, “Even though I don't think you could have done that, you still got fired.” 

Mike huffed, crossing his arms over his chest in a manner to act insulted, “Hey, I'm finishing up my degree in computer science. I think I could have easily tampered with you guys if I wanted to.” 

Freddy just snorted, “And as well as the 'general unprofessionalism and odor.' You were quite a mess on the sixth night you were working here.” 

Mike couldn't help but laugh, “Oh, I know quite well why I was fired. I keep that pink slip taped up on my wall for the memories.” He shook his head, grinning a little: he remembered exactly what happened on the sixth night of his first week working at Freddy Fazbear's. He could recall each movement he made, how slow the six hours seemed to go by as each animatronic poked their head into the office doorway, including Freddy; how he would have to keep switching back to Pirate's Cove since the whole workings of the night seemed to flip on that certain night, and if he wasn't prepared, Foxy would have taken his power every time he slammed against the shut door. It was a terrifying time, any person would have been disorderly and 'unprofessional' in that kind of situation. Mike did, however, want to forget the fact that a grown man soiled himself from fear when it got to 5:30AM and all four animatronics were breathing down his neck with only 10% power left. 

“Why do you keep something like that?” Bonnie's voice came up, causing Mike to glance over, “Why would you keep the pink slip even though it meant you lost your job here?” The guard shrugged, not exactly sure how to answer the question. Perhaps it was just because he wanted to remind himself of what helped cause him to become who he was today, and actually how he had met his best friend. 

“Well,” Mike grinned, entering the kitchen closely followed by the two animatronics, “You guys probably didn't pay much attention to things after I left when they fired me, since you still probably wanted to stuff me in a suit.” He noticed that both Bonnie and Freddy exchanged glances with each other, but brushed it off, continuing with his story, “After a few weeks they kept going through night guard after night guard, each one dying off not even lasting one night. Eventually they decided to get help from those who knew how to survive. Apparently at first they got Jeremy in there, since he knew the night shift, though apparently he wasn't very nice to you guys.” “Oh he was really mean,” Bonnie whimpered at the memory, “He was so rude and said so many vulgar things to us. Kept calling Freddy 'Fazfuck' and threw the fan at me.” Mike snorted, remembering his angry blond haired friend telling him about how he hated that leeching death trap of a fan. He could recall the other telling him, “Unplug the stupid shit and plug it back in before the morning. Who fucking needs a fan in the middle of autumn? Thing sucks the power like it's giving the fucking building a blow job.” 

“That's what I've heard,” Mike hummed with a grin, walking over to the large industrial fridge, “Even more rude than how I was, but that's not saying much. Jeremy was the king of being a jerk. It surprised me that he kept working here after so long, and how many people complained about him.” Bonnie nodded to him in agreement, why Freddy stood there, pondering something. 

“As I recall,” Freddy finally spoke up from his deep thought, “Mr. Fitzgerald had to work at the Pizzeria, and they had to keep him at the Pizzeria.” Mike turned to Freddy with a heavy expression, “What do you mean?” The guard quarried with his head slightly tilted to the side, “Why couldn't they get rid of him, or why couldn't he just walk out?” 

“Oh!” Bonnie hopped up and down a few quick times, “I can answer that!” The blue eyed male turned his attention to the animatronic bunny, waiting for the reason. Bonnie blinked, keeping silent for a few seconds then perked up, “Oh, you want me to tell it.” 

“Of course I do,” Mike shook his head with a small chuckle, “I wouldn't ask ya to elaborate if I didn't want ya to.” 

“Well, you see back in 1987 there was an incident that occurred with a kid and one of the animatronics,” Bonnie avoided naming the specific animatronic, but Mike had a good idea which one it was—especially since that series of animatronics were scrapped. Bonnie continued in a voice that was attempting to be serious and or spooky, “Somebody had tampered with the animatronics apparently during the night shift, so their sensors were all screwed up. The animatronic saw the kid and tried to attack the poor guy. Jeremy was apparently there and got in the way of the animatronic.” Mike cringed, thinking about how much pain his friend must have been in, having the powerful jaws of an animatronic bite down on him. Maybe that's how he got that scar on his upper lip... Mike thought to himself. 

“Jeremy ended up being hospitalized for a few months going between surgery and resting,” Bonnie sighed, tapping his two pointer fingers together, “The company was afraid of being sued so they made him a deal: he could work at the new place opening up since that location had to close, or he could have been transferred to the sister location and work there. The catch was he had to stay working at a Fazbear Entertainment related place to get the medical and other bills payed.” 

“Ah,” Mike drew on the word, nodding his head, “So that's why he would say he could do whatever the fuck he wanted and the fat cats couldn't do anything about it. Makes sense.” He then frowned a little, a realization crossing his mind, “What happens if he was killed because he was getting too much for the company to handle? From the scars Jeremy had he must have had to go through a lot of physical therapy.” 

“I'm not sure about what all happened with that,” Bonnie shrugged, “I only heard about it when we were, well, still alive because that was close to around the same day Freddy had his birthday party... and around the same day we, well...” Bonnie turned his gaze away, his eyes flickering to the empty blackness. 

“It was surprising Mr. Fitzgerald didn't get any worse injuries than what he got,” Freddy finished off what Bonnie had explained previously, in an attempt to move the conversation away from what had happened to them, “I am personally surprised he continued working here after such an event.” Both the animatronic and the guard nodded in silent agreement. 

“Guy just didn't want to be bested I guess, but back to what I was on before," Mike huffed a little, trying to remember that far back to recall what his point was, "What was I talking about?” 

"You were talking about how you got your job back," Bonnie laughed, "Something about them bringing back old guards." 

"Right! After the failed attempt to have Jeremy night shift, they called me up and told me they would overlook what happened that night and offered me my job back. I immediately said yes despite my better judgment. Though, I am quite glad I came back: met my best friend and got to know the real guys behind the killer animatronics," Mike smiled a little, pulling out a can of soda from the fridge, “Hey,” he turned to the two animatronics, putting a greater smile on his face, “How about we let Chica be the guard for tonight and I'll take her place. I'm going to fall asleep if I'm playing night guard tonight, even if you guys would stuff me into a suit if I fell asleep.” The guard chuckled, opening the can and taking a large gulp of the drink, “Or one of you guys can give it a go.” 

“Oh!” Bonnie cheered, clapping his hands together, “Chica can do it this night! But tomorrow it'll be my turn!” Next to Bonnie, Freddy let out a sigh, heading towards the front door, “Then, you both should get into position if you want ample time to try to get the guard.” Mike and Bonnie exchanged an excited glance with each other, before Mike bolted out the door, followed closely by the bunny. 

“Let's do this!” Mike hollared, jumping up onto the stage where Chica usually stood, the chicken only a few feet away, confusion rich in her eyes, “Chica, you are the guard tonight!” The male beamed excitedly, watching as the excitement spread to her and eventually snaring Foxy into it's grip. 

“Oh, ho!” Foxy's eye patch flipped up to expose his eyes that turned to Chica, “Good luck lass, I won't be takin' it easy on ya!” 

“You're on!” Chica snorted, walking over to the stage in front of Mike, “Can I wear the hat for tonight?” The black haired male nodded, taking the hat off his head and placed it onto the animatronic's head, “Thanks!” She gave him a quick hug before prancing back into the security room. Foxy gave a small chuckle, before heading back behind the starred curtains, ready for the hunt. 

When the small red light flickered on the stage camera, Freddy nodded, signaling for it to start. 

Unfortunately, neither Mike nor Chica did very well in their new jobs. The chicken wasn't fast enough to close the door and Foxy was in the room, giving a light tap of his hook against the side of the chicken's head, “Ye be dead lass.” 

“Darn it!” Chica pouted as the other three joined them in the room, “How do you do it so well Mike?” She turned her gaze to the guard who was awkwardly small out of the group, “I couldn't keep track of all four of you guys and watch the doors.” 

Mike grinned, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the frame of the right doorway, “It's not easy. I'd say they were going after you about a night four level. By then you really don't want to check all the cameras for everyone. Mostly you want to periodically check on Foxy and sometimes look at Freddy if he's off the stage. They both are kind of attention hogs, gotta have the spotlight on them, like the stars they are.” 

“Ye think that's the reason?” Foxy snorted, “It's because if ye don't watch the pirate, he'll be takin' away all ye booty and leavin' ya bleedin' on the sand. As for Mista Freddy he's just meticulous with what 'e does.” 

“Well, next time I'll do better,” Chica gave a firm nod, Mike letting out a small laugh. He shook his head when she gave him a questioning look, pointing over to Bonnie, “Bunny boy wants to have a go tomorrow.”


	5. Auburn Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stress is starting to get to Mike, causing his mind to play tricks on him, bringing him strange dreams he can't explain. In an attempt to improve the mood of the guard, an unexpected animatronic friend gives him a trip down memory lane

_“I have to get out of here... I need to get out and figure out how to prove it was him! I need to do it for their sake...”_

_“What are you doing?”_

_“You! You fucking asshole! You sadistic fucked up psychopathic cock fucker!”_

_“What are you going on about?”_

_“I know what you fucking did! I know what you've done! You're sick, you're fucked up in the head and you've dragged them down with you! Why did you do it? For the publicity even though they don't have a damned fucking clue it was you, or because it's some sick twisted game for you?! Was the friendship we had all a fucking lie so you could cover up your true self? The mask reveals the disgusting face, and yours is like looking at the ass hole of a wrinkled old man that has been burned and got fucked by a giant dick!”_

_“..... How did you find out?”_

_“Not even going to attempt to deny it, or to cover it up? I'm not giving away how I found out. But I know it was you. How could I have been so stupid? So gullible..? I fucking trusted you....”_

_“You should have never found out.”_

_“Yeah well there's not going back now... What are you doing? Where did you find those?... Fucking answer me! … Wait... They still work?! Get them the fuck away from me! Shit, no! … Why?! Why the fuck are they still working! Gah... F-fuck... You... you fucking bastard... I'll... I'll make you pay for this you.... you fucking....”_

_“You can't....”_

_A loud scream echoes through the blackness, before red glowing eyes appear, rows of razor sharp teeth gleaming with red blood hovering blew. They stay still for a few moments, before there's a static ridden scream, the teeth open and lunge forward._

Mike jerked awake from his sleep, beads of sweat dripping from his face, his breath ragged and broken. His heart pounded against his chest as he held a hand against it in an attempt to calm it down, “F.... fuck....” He breathed out finally, positioning himself so he was sitting up. 

He was in his room, covers nearly wrapped fully around his body like the bandages on a mummy. It was all a nightmare, a horrific nightmare. 

“That...” Mike frowned to himself, closing his eyes, “That was Jeremy's voice... but I didn't recognize the other voice....” he trailed off, his mind trying to process what had happened in the darkness of his dream. 

“Micheal, dear,” The elderly woman's sweet voice called him out of his thoughts, “It's almost nine, you should start getting ready for work.” 

“Thanks Ma,” He called back to her, “I'll be out in a moment.” Heaving himself up out of his bed, he took a moment to glance at the catastrophe that was where he slept: the upper left corner of the bed sheet had came off and a few of the pillows had been thrown to the ground during what was most likely thrashing around because of the nightmare. 

Picking up the strewn around pillows he fixed up his bed into a decent condition for when he returned after his shift to sleep more. Humming to himself as he finished, he swiped up the shirt that went for his guard uniform before exiting his room. 

“Sorry if I disturbed you Ma,” he apologized aloud as he entered the kitchen. There was nobody there. For a moment he stared in disbelief, but then the memory came back. 

She was gone too. She had been gone for over a year now. He silently cursed to himself, going to the fridge to pull out a drink, “How the hell can you forget that, idiot?” Mike frowned, pulling out a small soda from the cool inside of the fridge, “But...” he glanced towards the room that was once her's, “Why did I hear her voice so clearly?” 

His eyes wandered over towards the old analog clock that hung on the wall near the room he never entered since her departure. It was 11:30PM. 

“Shit!” He chocked on the sip of soda he had taken with the realization, “I'm late” He slammed the soda down onto the table, quickly buttoning up the shirt. On the way out he swiped up his name tag, tie and keys before bolting the hell out of there. 

It was passed midnight before Mike had gotten to the pizzeria. He cursed under his breath as he walked into the facility, pushing open the main doors. Luckily it seemed the Head Guard expected him to be late and left a pair of the keys under a stone near the front entrance. Still didn't make him feel any better about his predicament. 

Another lucky break was that the animatronics no longer hunted him like a wild animal stalking its prey. Back when he first started the job—both times—he would have gotten his butt stuffed into the empty suit so fast he couldn't even say 'fuck,' before he was dead. The very thought brought a shiver down his spine, making Mike curse under his breath again. 

“Profanity Mr. Schmidt,” Freddy's voice rose in his mind, making him turn his blue eyes up to the bear, “It may be after hours, but the language is still forbidden within these walls.” Freddy then adjusted his hat, noticing the distaste in the human's blue eyes, “Is something wrong?” For once, the animatronic bear sounded concerned, tilting his large brown head to the side, “You seem... off.” 

“It's nothing Freddy,” Mike sighed, shaking his head, “Just a long day,” he didn't spend much more time in the main room, heading straight for the security office. 

“I don't think it's fine,” Chica's voice came from behind the animatronic bear, “Mike usually isn't that sad, or late.” The chicken stood on the stage right behind where Freddy was standing, “Should we go check on him?” She glanced down to the bear, waiting for him to look back to her, or at least tell her something. 

“I'll talk to him,” Freddy simply stated, not turning to look to his bandmate. He brushed off the question from his chicken counterpart, and trudged down the east hallway towards the security office. The bear had to laugh to himself, mere months ago he would be going down these halls with intent to kill whomever was behind those doors, but this time that wasn't his goal. 

He wanted to make sure his friend was okay. Chica was right, it wasn't in Mike's personality to be so down, to avoid talking to his friends. This worried the animatronic bear. 

In a few strides, Freddy was waiting at the doorway, glancing into the office. At first there was nothing in sight: the chair was gone from the desk, and the tablet was still powered down on top of the paper covered desk. The blue eyes trailed back to the far end of the room, seeing the guard curled up, his feet up on the body of the chair, his face buried into his knees. Quiet sobs echoed through the empty room, sounding much louder than what they actually were. 

“Mr. Schmidt?” Freddy questioned softly, and when no response came, he spoke louder, “Mike?” At the sound of his first name, the guard glanced up, his eyes brimming with fresh tears, “What happened?” Freddy stepped into the office, walking over to the back of the room, “There must be something wrong, otherwise you wouldn't have tears,” he rose a brown paw to stop Mike before he had a chance to retort, “And don't argue that you aren't upset. I know quite well when somebody is upset, it's in my programming,” the bear took his free hand and gently tapped a finger against his head. 

Freddy stopped in front of the chair, leaning down onto one knee, the gentle blue eyes glancing up to Mike, “So, what's bugging you?” 

For a few heart beats, there was silence, just the quiet hum of the gears working within the animatronic bear. Mike's blue eyes slowly rose up from hiding behind his knees, sorrowfully glancing back into Freddy's eyes, “I'm just...” he sniffed, wiping away a few of the tears with his gloved palm, “Having all these memories coming up. After talking with Jeremy's family, and still dealing with my mother's death, it's all weighing down on me.” He shifted his position, dropping his feet back down from the body of the chair, his feet barely touching the tiled ground. 

Freddy hummed softly, nodding his head, “Ah, I see.” The bear's gaze wandered to the wall behind Mike, before returning it to the guard, “Well I'm not an expert on the emotions of losing a parent, but I do know about the emotions of losing a friend.” The animatronic adjusted the hat on top of his head, the eyelids closing over the eyes, “I was the last one to be killed out of the five of us. I tried to hide, to get away from him,” the eyes remained shut as he spoke, the mechanical voice seemingly to turn more human as each word came out, “I was afraid after I saw my friends get killed... I didn't even watch as he killed my sister. Losing them was painful, I didn't know what to do.” 

As the mechanical voice spoke, Mike's eyes began to slowly widen, his lips tightening as if he wanted to say something, but bit back the words, instead listening to the words that came out of the animatronic. 

There was a pause, silence falling over the room once more. Neither moved or spoke, as if anticipating what the other would do next. 

Finally, Freddy's eyes opened, reaming the same as before instead of growing black when any animatronic spoke of their deaths, “Finally I couldn't do anything else, so I gave up. It was painful, but soon it was over. The next thing I remembered, I woke up. I didn't know if I was alive, or dead, but I couldn't feel anything. At first I panicked, tried to run and hide, but I couldn't move. Then I heard a voice, a young voice like mine, that called to me. When I followed it, I began to feel things again, to be able to move. But...” 

Freddy lifted the brown paws, glancing down to them, “when I lifted my hands, I didn't see my hands, I saw these. I knew then I wasn't alive anymore, that I was something else. It doesn't seem like much,” the animatronic mimicked the sound of a heavy exhale, “But to feel that lost, to feel so alone and scared, it's even more terrifying than seeing what you fear most. To lose somebody is something deep and scarring, something that won't go away, you can only lick your wounds and break away the pain.” 

The only response from Mike was a small squeak, of what could be counted between the squeak of a mouse and the squeak of a rusty door. He blinked, wiping away another set of tears, before speaking, “I... I never knew that's what happened. You guys,” he paused again to sniff, “never really talked about your deaths, usually you go creepy black-eyed and bonkers when speaking of it.” 

“I am Freddy Fazbear,” Freddy chuckled, standing up to his full height, “I'm the leader of this small crowd, and I have a job to protect them. Even if I was the youngest of the bunch when we were alive, I was given the job to be the leader, and I will do the job to my fullest ability.” 

Mike snorted with a grin, standing up himself, “So you'd protect them to your dying day?” 

“Funny Mr. Schmidt,” Freddy forced himself not to roll his eyes, “But with what that phrase stands for, I would do it all.” The bear watched the guard as he stood up, making sure that he wasn't going to keel over suddenly or, with that childish fear still lingering inside him, lung forward and try to attack him, “Seems you are doing a bit better.” 

“I am,” Mike quietly responded, before raising his voice to a normal register, “I mean, the sad story about your death didn't cheer me up,” the man waved his hands, holding them up into the air, “I'm not that pitiful that stories about other people's suffering makes me happy. It's just,” slowly a small smile spread onto his lips, “Out of all the animatronics, I didn't expect you to be the one to open up to me. I honestly expected Bonnie would be the one to talk to me about the past stuff, and expected you to be the last, besides Foxy,” Mike added in a few words on the end, “Since you two were the last two to trust me.” 

“We had a lot to protect,” Freddy reminded the guard, “And we weren't as trusting after the one we thought was our friend betrayed us and killed us.” 

“Duly noted,” Mike nodded, then continued with his thought, “But I'm glad you trust me enough to share that. It's like what my Ma always told me: 'even the toughest of creature can have a soft spot. You just need patience to get to that point, and must suffer through a lot of hardship before that time comes, but when it does, it will make you smile.'” 

“Your mother sounded like a smart and perceptive woman,” Freddy hummed low, “A lot like my mother.” 

“She was the best,” Mike sighed, the smile on his face growing, “She would have dropped everything to make sure I was happy and living well. She never gave up on me, no matter how hard times got, especially with my late developing physical abilities.” 

The guard paused with his thoughts, another one entering his mind, “Maybe she was referring to me when she said that the toughest of creatures can have a soft spot. She knew just how to calm me down, and she did have quite the time trying to raise me on her own.” 

Before long, Mike had told a few stories about his childhood, exchanging small snippets of his life with Freddy, a story about when he tried to kick a kid who had cut in line in exchange for a story about how when he was alive Freddy once stole a piece of candy from Foxy—apparently it was one of the most terrifying moments of his life. They hadn't noticed that Bonnie and Chica had slipped to the west door, looking in as the two shared their stories, smiling and laughing at each story of mischief and tomfoolery, gave condolences when they told a story of loss, and agreed on getting revenge on kids who had picked fun at them. 

Then, the clock chimed for five AM, jolting both the guard and the animatronic bear out of their stories. Mike glanced towards the clock that hung on the wall, also noticing the two pairs of eyes watching through the window, “Well it's five A.M, and we also had an audience.” The guard smiled a little, beckoning the two into the office, “Come on guys, I think there's some room for you two.” 

Chica shyly walked into the room, closely followed by Bonnie, “Sorry,” She peeped, noticing that Freddy was staring at the two of them, “We were getting worried about what was going on, and when we heard you two exchanging stories we wanted to listen.” 

Bonnie giggled, stopping next to the old rolling chair, “I remember that time when we got in trouble for staying at the park too late that one time. Mom was so pissed that I cam home with grass stains all over my pants. I thought she would have thrown my pants into the washer with me still in them.” 

“That's your fault for sliding around in the grass so much,” Chica snorted, crossing her arms over her chest, “If you were a bit more prepared like Goldy and I, you wouldn't of gotten into so much trouble.” 

“It was worth it,” Bonnie shrugged. 

“Man,” Mike shook his head, brushing back a few strands of hair from his face, seeing the three animatronics glance to him, “If only there was more time to listen to these stories, but you've only got about forty minutes before ya guys have to get back up onto the stage.” 

“Darn...” Bonnie pouted, his large bunny ears drooping down, “But I wanted to poke some fun at Freddy, I've got some good dirt on him and some of the others as well.” 

“I thought we said nobody would find out about those,” Chica hissed under her breath at the bunny. 

“It's not like Mike is going to tattle on us to our parents,” Bonnie shrugged. The chicken thought of retorting, but shrugged when she realized that the animatronic bunny was right. 

“How about you guys save that for tomorrow,” Mike grinned, “We'll have a night of tales to tell and learn all the dirty secrets about each other.” 

“Sounds just like a slumber party,” Freddy nearly visibly shivered as he mentioned the words, “But, I guess I'm in for it. Just as long as you don't try to give us makeovers.” 

“Oh but Freddy,” Mike pretended to pout, turning his voice to a whine, “I bet you would look really good with some nice makeup on.” 

“Just go look at Toy Freddy and you have me with makeup,” Freddy blankly stated, “And I don't want to look like that, thank you very much.” 

“Party pooper.” 

“I make sure children party responsibly, so if that makes me a 'party pooper' so be it,” Freddy nodded to his words, “And besides, the children think I'm wonderful at a party.” 

“That's because they don't know what a real party is,” Mike chuckled, walking towards the left doorway, “They only know about the Fazbear party. They can't know of a real party though, those are off limits until your twenty-one.” 

“Oh you mean grownup parties,” Bonnie squeaked out, “Those always got really loud and ended with people acting strangely. They threw up and stumbled around and could hardly get a proper sentence out.” 

“That's called being drunk,” Mike laughed, “And it may be fun being drunk to a certain extent, but the hangover afterwards is not fun at all. You're not missing out on much.” He stood by the door as the animatronics began to leave, Bonnie the first out the door followed by Chica. As Freddy passed by, the guard smiled up to him, “Thanks for that Freddy. It really helped.” 

“Of course Mr. Schmidt,” the animatronic bear tipped the black tophat to him, “It's the least I could have done.” 

“Please Mr. Fazbear,” Mike mocked a very proper British accent, before scrapping it and returning to his normal voice, “Just call me Mike. I don't like the whole proper crap with friends.”


	6. Vibrant Green and Fading Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New cards are put into play as two new employees are added to the roster, and Mike gets to reconnect with his friend Fritz...

“Schmidt,” the voice rose into his mind, pulling him out of his sleep, “What the hell are you still doing here?” 

The voice that Mike had heard was not one he was expecting; he had expected to hear that strange pitched voice of the Head Guard, but this one had a slight English accent to it, one he hadn't heard in a while. 

Perking up, Mike's blue eyes met the brown eyes of the other guard, “Dude, you should be home sleeping in your own bed.” Mike recognized the guard quickly by his bright orange-red hair that spiked up at the top, and the small golden hoop earrings hanging down from his earlobes. 

Smiling sheepishly and still groggy from sleep, Mike hummed, “Oh, mornin' Fritz.” The other guard responded with a snort, pointing a thumb back behind his shoulder towards the clock mounted on the wall. 

“It's not morning anymore,” Fritz grinned for a moment before turning to a serious expression, “Did you seriously fall asleep on the job or the second after six am hit?” 

“I really can't recall,” Mike rubbed his eyes as he let out a huge yawn, “I got everything set up for the morning shift and then I can't remember anything.” 

Back in the day, when Mike had just been rehired along with a few other guards, which included the ex-guard of one of the previous locations Fritz Smith, he wasn't very fond of the older red-headed man. Mike didn't hate him, he was just jealous of him. 

He had felt awful, being jealous of such a cool person as Fritz, but he was always jealous of how close Fritz and Jeremy were. As a kid, and even as an adult, Mike had never experienced such a close friendship himself, and seeing how close they were, even after the huge fight they had had—which he had been told of from Fritz—they were close as ever. 

The only time Mike had bee able to put aside his jealousy and actually get to know Fritz, was after their friend had gone missing. It was a horrible way to start being friends, but they had to have somebody to be friendly with since Jeremy was gone, and the Head Guard and Day Shift Manger were not the best people to be friends with. Still didn't stop Mike from talking to them. 

“Stay up too late partying with the animatronics?” Fritz grinned at him, offering out a mug of coffee, “You young people staying up all night partying,” he jokingly made his voice sound like somebody well on into their senior years. 

“Oh like you haven't been guilty of being up all night partying,” Mike scoffed playfully at the guard before taking the mug, “Thanks.” 

Fritz gave him a small nod, before leaning against the right doorway, his own mug in hand. The mug was a dark blue color and in white letter was the words “#1 Failure,” something Fritz took pride in. It was hard to put down the guard, and he took pride in the fact people would call him a failure. 

“I've had a few parties in my college days,” Fritz smirked, swishing around the liquid inside the mug, “We'd get so drunk and try to balance really hard chemical reactions.” 

“Seriously?” Mike snorted, raising an eyebrow, “That's what you guys did when you got drunk? I didn't take you for the nerdy kind.” He took a sip of the hot coffee, focusing on the shut down tablet. 

Fritz let out a small laugh as he shook his head, “Kid, I have a degree in biochemistry,” he grinned at the other guard, “You think I can't get any more “nerd” than that?” 

“Maybe if you got a biomedical degree.” 

“Well then,” Fritz held back a loud burst of laughter, “You'd get your arse kicked for saying that around Jer.” He glanced up from his mug to see a questioning look on Mike's face, “He got a biomedical degree in college. We both went for a science degree. He was planning on becoming a psychologist after going back to college to get his P.H.D.” 

“Jeez,” Mike blinked, taken back by the information, “I really didn't see either of you being the science type. I thought you guys were just the chill guys who listened to too much heavy metal.” The black haired guard shrugged, taking another sip of the coffee, “Guess looks are deceiving.” 

“Oh, lots of things are deceiving,” Fritz smirked slightly, before turning his focus to the direction of the stage, “Oh, I forgot why I came to talk to ya.” The brown eyes returned their gaze to Mike, “I needed somebody to help me out with fixing up one of the animatronics. The boss is kind of interested in upgrading them with some new technology, that's if the system can handle it.” 

“Wait,” the night guard stood up from his chair, placing the now empty mug onto the desk, “You fix the animatronics as well? Since when did you know how to do that?” 

“Hah!” Fritz itched his nose, a grin on his face, “After I got out of college, I learned a bit of mechanics, and was taught a bit more by Scott back at the location I worked out. We worked on fixing up the Toys after somehow their sensors got botched up,” the guard smoothed back some of his flame orange hair before continuing, “A waste of time because a few weeks later the place closed down after those kids went missing. At least all of our work wasn't wasted. We fixed up the old models of Freddy and his gang into what you see today.” 

He waved a hand dismissively on the topic, “Had to replace a lot of parts since they were broken and a lot of wires were fried.” 

As the sound of approaching footsteps echoed, both pairs of eyes turned to the sound. The sound approached, becoming more clear to be the steps of high heeled shoes. 

“Ah, great,” Fritz turned his back to the doorway, a completely annoyed look on his face, “Act stupid the day shift manager is coming.” 

“She's not that bad,” Mike shrugged, “She's just overly optimistic and friendly. I don't think it's that bad.” 

“Of course you don't.” Fritz rolled his eyes, a slight smirk slipping onto his lips. 

“What's that supposed to mean?” 

“You're kinda overly optimistic and friendly as well, kid.” 

Mike went silent for a few seconds, before shrugging, “Okay, point made there.” He gave a playful grin to the other guard, who returned it with a fake glare. 

“Hello boys,” the sicky sweet voice cooed into the room, a woman, with her light brown hair tied up into a bun with a few strands framing her face, stood in the doorway. She was shorter than Fritz, her body showing the evidence that she had four children back at home. She always wore a kind smile and kept her voice the same sicky sweet throughout her day, “Hopefully you're not getting into too much trouble back here.” She paused a moment before giggling, “Mr. Paine wants you to get to work on the animatronics as soon as you can.” She turned her bright hazel eyes to Fritz, “How soon can you do it?” 

“As soon as you get out of my way,” Fritz sneered, before going past her, not even appologizing when his shoulder bumped against her's. Shooting a quick glare towards her, the guard disappeared into the hallway. 

“He's always so sour,” the Day Manager frowned, “Him and the Head Guard seem to always be in a mood.” 

“Fritz is going through some tough times Mrs. Anderson,” Mike smiled to the manager, “And I don't know about Barney. He's just... grumpy.” He added in the last word after not knowing of another one to replace it with. 

“Well,” Mrs. Anderson nodded to Mike, “I hope they cheer up pretty soon. It's not good to be so glum and grumpy around the children.” She then turned around to exit the room, adding in a last part, “At least we don't have to worry about that foul mouthed jerk being around the children anymore. He was a bad influence on them.” Then left the room. 

It was a good thing that she had left when she did, because Mike nearly blew up after hearing that, “He wasn't a fucking bad influence!” He knew that yelling from the security office nobody could really hear him—he had screamed once in the office due to waking up from a nightmare after he fell asleep at 6 AM, and the only person who heard him was Jeremy, whom was in the same room as him. Mike rubbed his shoulder, still feeling the force of the punch the blond haired guard had given him after he had scared the guard. 

Letting out a heavy sigh, Mike turned to leave the office himself; he needed to go see what his friend needed help with, “I wonder if Fritz learned about the animatronics being haunted or not?” He mumbled under his breath as he walked down the hallway, “I don't think he does otherwise he wouldn't be so clueless about how they act.” 

Fritz was a smart guy, but one thing he didn't seem to understand was that the animatronics were alive. Back when he first started up again, Mike had gone to both Fritz and Jeremy when the animatronics were starting to calm down around him. Jeremy had been concerned slightly, why Fritz didn't believe him one bit. Guy was headstrong, Mike had to give him that. 

Now, Mike had partially hoped Fritz would get proven wrong. It would be pretty funny to see it happen. 

Approaching the storage, Mike could hear Fritz's voice coming from behind the partially opened door, “Alright, let's see what we can do to help you out Bonnie.” Opening the door, Mike found the lavender bunny sitting on top of the table, while Fritz was standing to the side, a wrench in his hand. 

“Am I late?” Mike grinned as he closed the door behind him, seeing both the animatonic and the adult guard turned their gaze to him, “Fashionably of course.” 

“Hey Mike!” Bonnie perked up, his eyes bright and warm. The black haired guard waved to the bunny, “Are you going to be helping Fritz with me?” 

“Of course buddy,” Mike hummed, walking up to the other side of the rabbit, “Wouldn't let ya do this alone.” 

“We done with the mushy stuff?” Fritz rose an eyebrow, tapping the wrench against his fingers, “There's a job to be done. Also,” the brown eyes turned to the door, hearing a set of footsteps approaching, “The new guy should be coming in.” 

“New guy?” Both Bonnie and Mike voiced their confusion at the same time. 

The footsteps stopped and there was a small knock on the door, “Hello?” A voice called out, “Mr. Smith?” 

“Come on in, kid,” Fritz rolled his eyes, “It's not like you're coming in on a secret mafia meeting.” He returned his focus to Bonnie as the door opened. 

Quickly, the newcomer slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. The new employee stood a few inches taller than Mike, his hair a faded red-pink with the roots growing in his natural black, swept to the side. His brown eyes were shaped to show his Asian decent, looking to be a bit wider under the magnification of his glasses, “Sorry I'm late,” he chuckled a bit, walking over to the three, “I finally got out of the grip of the Day Manager.” His voice was joking, but there was a hint of annoyance in his tone, “I didn't know somebody could talk that much and be so happy about everything.” 

“Well then stay away from that guy,” Fritz walked over to a tool chest, pointing over his shoulder at Mike with the wrench he had held before, “He's almost as bad.” 

The newbie glanced to Mike, his eyes widening a bit. 

“Nah,” Mike waved his hand to dismiss the accusation, “I don't force you to stay around and listen to me by threatening your job. I don't have that kind of authority around here. I'm just the night guard.” 

At the words the new guy relaxed a little, before offering out his hand, “That's good to know. My name is Mark by the way, Mark Iplier.” 

“Ah,” Mike grinned, taking the hand, “That's a nice name. Names Mike Schmidt. Mike to meet ya.” 

“So you were the one the Day Manger said made all the puns?” Mark chuckled, “You remind me of one of my friends back at home. He made a lot of puns at us,” he added on with a shiver, “almost to a painful level.” 

“Sounds just like Mike,” Fritz rolled his eyes, picking up a few other tools from the chest, before closing it, “But we can go on about that stuff later. Right now, I gotta teach this bugger,” he pointed a screwdriver at Mark,” How the animatronics work since he'll be the new mechanic.” 

“Ah, so we're actually going to have a mechanic rather than a guard mechanic?” Mike joked at Fritz, “That will be a change.” 

“Funny,” Fritz gave a fake smile to Mike as he placed a few tools onto the table next to Bonnie, slapping the animatronic hand away from them when the bunny tried to pick one up, “But no. The boss doesn't want to pay the cost for a full-time mechanic. So, like me, Mr. Iplier will be doing both guard work and mechanic work.” 

“Ouch,” Mike frowned, looking over at Mark, “Sorry to hear that. It's going to be a lot of work to do both. I'm glad I just get the night duty.” 

“It's alright,” Mark shrugged, glancing towards Bonnie before returning his focus to Mike, “I don't mind the extra work: I actually like to work. Free time just makes me,” he paused with a frown, “nervous.” 

“Well you won't have too much free time,” Fritz hummed, helping the animatronic bunny to lean back onto the table, “With doing both mechanic work and guard duty you'll be very well occupied. Though, since there's going to be two mechanics, I guess that time will be split in half. But,” he chuckled as he moved back from the animatronic, “I bet Miles will easily find extra jobs for you to do around the place. The poor other newbie's going to have fun dealing with him.” 

“Another newbie?” Mike rose an eyebrow, glancing towards Fritz, “Did we lose a few employees and had to get new ones?” He gave a playful glance towards Bonnie, “Did the animatronics drive away some of our employees?” 

“We didn't!” Bonnie tried to sit up, but was stopped by Fritz, “We would never drive away employees or customers!” If the animatronic could, he would have given a deep concerned frown, “Is it because some of the employees have gone missing or left?” 

“Well,” Fritz sighed, shaking his head, “A few employees left because of the bad rep this place has, and some left after Jeremy went missing. They were worried that they could go missing as well. Started some really bad rumors about the place. I'm surprised people are still wanting jobs here, must be pretty stupid or desperate,” he paused, then turned to Mark, “No offense kid.” 

“None taken,” Mark replied sarcastically, “I thought this would be a great job, and they accepted me even though I didn't fully get through college to be an engineer.” 

“Jeez,” Mike joked, “There's so many nerds around here.” 

“Says the guy who has a degree in computer science,” Fritz rolled his eyes at the guard, “You have no room to talk mister.” 

“Fair enough,” Mike shrugged, before returning to the previous topic, “So who is the other new guy? Anyone I'll be having to deal with?” 

“Oh,” Mark chuckled a bit, “His name is Sean, a friend of mine. It'll be hard to miss him.” 

“And you will be dealing with him,” Fritz added in with a small smirk, “He's being trained for a night guard so you don't have to be the only one. You might even be training him and Mark over here how to do the night shift. Boss wanted some people on night shift so he didn't have to depend on you.” 

“Really?” Mike questioned, “He hates me that much?” 

“He hates everyone equally.” 

“Why can't he just get along with people?” 

“It's not part of his programming.” 

“Programming?” Bonnie perked up, butting his way into the conversation, “Is he an animatronic too?” 

“It's just a phrase,” Mark nodded, “He's not actually an animatronic, as far as I know.” The man walked over to Fritz's side, picking up the flat head screwdriver, “Should we get to work?” 

“I guess so,” Fritz huffed, shaking his head, “Hey Mike,” he glanced over to the black haired guard, “If you want, you can head off. I didn't think Mark would be in today so I was going to have you help me. But, if you do head out, you should at least meet the other new guy, since you'll be working with him. He should be somewhere in the main room, or in the Kid's Corner helping the tykes color.” 

“Will do,” Mike gave a two finger salute to the guard before heading to the door, “Have fun you three, and Bonnie,” he turned to watch the bunny, “Don't chat them up too much why they work, don't want them to make a mistake on you.” 

“Alright,” Bonnie happily chirped. 

“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” Mark snorted at Mike, “Just met you and you already have a lack of faith in me.” 

“Oh it's not you I have a lack of faith in,” The night guard grinned. He left it at that, exiting the storage room. Behind him he could hear Mark question Fritz about what Mike had meant, but didn't bother to hear the response. 

Back in the main room of the pizzeria, the blue eyes scanned around for an employee he didn't recognize. Mike had known each employee well, taking the time to get to known them at least well enough that he could strike up a friendly conversation with them from time to time. 

Finally, he saw something he didn't recognize: in the Kid's Corner there was a new picture up, of a stick figure man who stood proudly wearing a blue mask, a hood that covered part of his bright green hair. Standing below it was the proud artist of the picture, a small kid with dark red hair. Next to the kid was the employee Mike didn't recognize: like the man in the picture, the employee had bright green hair, almost similar to Mark's but a bit shorter. 

“It looks marvelous!” The green haired employee beamed, “You're one great artist kid!” In the voice there was a heavy hint of an Irish accent, “You'll be a famous artist one day, no doubt about that!” 

The kid was glowing with pride, a huge smile on her face. She giggled once and went back to the crayon box, eager to make another masterpiece. 

“You must be the new guy,” Mike greeted the employee as he walked over, “Guess Mark was right that you'd be hard to miss.” 

The new employee turned around, a smile on his face and his blue eyes dancing with excitement, “Hey!” The man waved to Mike, “Yup, I'm really hard to miss. Name's Sean Septic, but most people call me Jack.” 

“How do you go from Sean to Jack?” Mike rose an eyebrow. 

“It's a long story,” Sean joked, “But you can call me either name, I'll respond to it.” 

“Alright then Jack,” Mike nodded in confirmation, “Well it's good to meet you. I'm Mike, the night guard here.” 

“Ah,” Sean hummed, “So you'll be the one teachin' Mark and I how to run the night shift, huh?” The man grinned, before walking away from the crafting corner, Mike following close behind, “I don't think it would be too hard to learn how to run things at night, but I'm always open to learning.” 

“It's nowhere near as hard as it used to be,” Mike chuckled, taking the lead to bring Sean to the security office, “You don't have to worry about the animatronics coming and forcefully stuffing you into a suit anymore. You just have to worry about all of them cramming themselves into the office and not giving you enough room to move around.” 

“Doesn't sound too bad,” Sean laughed, before returning to a more serious tone, “But I was a bit weary when Mark came to me with the idea of working here. We were both looking for a job and he saw the add in the paper. Since they had spots open for both of us, we decided to take it, even though I was a bit nervous about the rumors that went around.” 

He stopped, and noticed the curious expression on Mike's face, and elaborated on it, “People were always talking about the children that disappeared, how the animatronics at night would kill the security guards which is why they went through so many, and how that most recent employee went missing and hasn't been found. Heard the family was going to sue the company, but because of his contract couldn't go through with it.” 

“Well most of those rumors are true,” Mike sighed, “The animatronics did try to kill the night guard, children did go missing in the facility and well,” he inhaled slowly, and exhaled even slower, “Jeremy's family did try to sue the company, but as you said it fell through because of the contract made between the company and Jeremy.” 

“That sucks,” Sean stated, not sure what else to say, “Sounds like you were close to the guy.” 

“We were good friends: him, Fritz and I,” Mike gave a weak smile, before he entered the security office, “It was hard when Jeremy was gone suddenly. It hurt and well, it's still does.” The older guard positioned himself against the messy desk. 

“But we have to move on and not dwell on the past,” Mike breathed, crossing his arms, “And the best way is to continue working and living our lives.” 

Sean nodded in agreement, before taking a position against the other side of the desk, “That's the best way to remember him.” 

“For now,” Mike's tone picked up, a smile spreading onto his face, “I need to start taking you through the basics of what to do for the night shift. You can catch Mark up on the rest once he's done working with Fritz, and tonight will be your first night to meet the animatronics. If you learn quick enough, I bet they will play the game with you too, but this doesn't involve being stuffed into a suit if you lose.” 

“Well that's a relief,” Sean chuckled, wiping away an invisible beat of sweat from his brow, “And well, I might tell Mark about what ya tell me, I might not.” 

Mike, in response to the statement, let out a quick laugh, “I'll leave that up to you.”


	7. Silver Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's nice when the new guards don't have to worry about the animatronics trying to forcefully stuff them into an animatronic suit. The two new guards get a taste of the Hunt, and they all get a surprise at the end... but what could it be?

“Watch your power,” 

“I'm trying. They keep hovering around my doors! They just stand there and don't move away!” 

“Ten percent left.” 

“Fucking fuck!” 

“Check the lights.” The lights in the left doorway lit up, revealing a figure in the distance. The right door was closed so he didn't bother to look at it. 

“What about Freddy and Foxy?” 

“Oh balls, I forgot about those guys!” 

It was too late: Foxy appeared in the left doorway, jumping in with a playful screech. Mark, who was playing the guard scooted back, letting out a loud scream as the chair fell over, “No!” He crossed his arms over his chest in a pout, “Why was that so hard? This is my first night and neither of you guys taught me what to do!” On either side of him Mike and Sean started to laugh. 

“Ye didn't teach 'em how to play?” Foxy gasped looking to Mike, “Mikey, ye need ta teach 'em how to play, otherwise it not be fair.” 

“Yeah,” Bonnie frowned, stepping into the left doorway, “We were going on a night four level because you were there helping him. If we would have know he didn't know how to play, we would have stuck to a night one level.” 

“Fuck you guys,” Mark held up his middle fingers, pointing them at the other two guards, “Just fuck you.” The only response he got out of the two guards was a burst of laughter, Mike holding his hat on his head and Sean holding his stomach. 

“Now, now Mr. Iplier,” Freddy's voice interrupted the laughing fit of the two, “Even if it's after hours I would request you use less curse words.” The bear held up a finger in a fashion of a-matter-of-fact, “The more you use it the more likely you will use it around children. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is a safe space for children, and cursing guards are not safe.” 

“It's not like I'm going to hurt them or kill them.” Mark mumbled under his breath. The brown eyes trailed up to see the blackness starting to wash over the animatronics' eyes, “Uhhh, did I say something wrong?” He pointed a finger to Freddy, Mike following the appendage. 

“Freddy! Bonnie! Foxy!” Each animatronic's eyes turned back to normal as Mike called their names, “You're fine, Mark's just being a sore loser.” 

“Am not!” 

“Yes you are,” Sean patted his friend on the head before helping him up off the floor, “Ye are just pouty because ye lost the game. Tomorrow night is my turn, then we'll see who gets farther.” 

“Well of course you will!” Once on his feet Mark threw his hands up in the air, “You got the training then refused to teach me it!” 

Mike rolled his eyes pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the two, “I feel old with those two fighting like teenagers. They aren't much younger than me and they still make me feel old.” He shook his head before focusing back to the two, “Mr. Septic, Mr. Iplier,” the two stopped their bickering and turned to their teacher, “How about you two go to the kitchen and get three sodas: grape for me and whatever you two want. Then bring them back her and relax a bit.” 

Foxy moved out of the way to allow the two to pass, eyeing them as they slipped by. Once out of range, Foxy let out a hardy laugh, shaking his head, “I remember the time Mikey was first starting the job,” Bonnie snickered as well, “Ye were so scared the first night,” The fox placed an elbow on Mike's head, looking down at him, “When Bonnie moved ye nearly screamed your lungs out.” 

“Hey,” Mike laughed with a grin, “I was told you guys were quirky, not freakin' alive. When I saw Bonnie move it scared the heck out of me. And when he was off stage it was just too much,” He smiled at the memory—of course back then he wasn't smiling, “I would have left if I wasn't scared I'd get my butt stuffed into an animatronic suit if I left the office.” 

“That probably would have happened,” Bonnie nervously chuckled, itching the back of his neck, something he picked up from the guards and adults, “We were just so angry and scared. We wanted to get the man who killed us, but never stopped to remember how he looked and the fact he wasn't every night guard that came in.” 

“Which one of you guys got punched in the face by Jeremy?” Mike quarried: he had heard stories for the reason why Fitzgerald wasn't able to do the night shift anymore, and the prominent one was that he punched an animatronic hard enough that he broke it's jaw and his hand. 

“That would be Foxy--the reason why he jaw is broken.” Freddy hummed, recalling back in his memory the night it happened. 

Mr. Fitzgerald had always been unpredictable after the accident in 1987, but the fact he didn't scream when Foxy entered his office more yelled in anger and annoyance before punching the animatronic Fox square in the jaw just proved his unpredictableness. It hurt his hand, and as well as the animatronic. After that, the company moved Mr. Fitzgerald to the day shift, and it started the road down to the state of dismay for the old pirate. Freddy emulated a sigh, crossing his large brown arms over his chest, “Mr. Fitzgerald was constantly yelling curses at us as well as throwing the fan at Bonnie.” 

“He always hated that stupid fan,” Mike grinned, “Always said that he didn't even like it when he took the summer job at the location he worked at before. Said it was 'unnecessary and attracts the attention of the walking creepy fucks that want to murder me slowly with those damned eyes watching.'” 

“That's some really rough words there Mikey,” Foxy mused, “Not used to such words coming out of ye besides in the form of puns.” 

“That's the censored version of what Jeremy really said.” 

“Shit...” Bonnie gasped, before slouching down getting a glare from Freddy, “Sorry Freddy.” His ears drooped, mimicking the emotion of embarrassment, “'No using curse words, even outside of the day shift.'” The rabbit recited the words the band leader had said so many times, “It gets hard to get those words out of my system since I heard it so much from the guards.” Freddy shook his head, showing disappointment in his band mate. 

“Oh sure,” the Irish accent butting into the conversation caused their attentions to turn over to the right-side door where Mark and Sean stood, “Blame the guards for your bad vocabulary.” He gave a playful smirk before handing over the grape soda to Mike, “It's not like we go around cursing up a storm.” 

"Yeah," Mark mumbled, still remembering the cursing fest he just did when playing the old version of night guard. He was probably the main target of being blamed for the horrible vocabulary. 

“You've only been here for a day or so,” Mike snorted, happily accepting the soda, “I don't think you've had enough time around to understand the kind of vocabulary some of the guards have.” The animatronics mostly were referring to a specific blond haired guard who had the most colorful vocabulary Mike had ever heard: it was amazing how he could always find some new word to use at him whenever anyone pissed the guard off or even looked at him sideways. 

“I've heard even the Head Guard has quite the mouth on him,” Mark mused, opening his soda, “The only one who doesn't curse is the Day Manager, but she seems she couldn't do anything even remotely bad or even neutral.” 

“She seems like a no-good goody-goody-two-shoes,” Sean laughed despite shivering at the idea, “Like a really sicky sweet treat that will make you sick just looking at it.” 

Mike laughed to himself at Sean's comment: it sounded exactly how Fritz described the woman many times before, “Did you hear that from Fritz?” 

“Who?” Sean blinked, his soda resting against the bottom of his lip. 

“You haven't met Fritz?” Bonnie perked up, letting out a gasp, his ears standing up on straight and his hands covering his mouth, “How could you not know of him? He's like the coolest security guard out there!” The magenta eyes of the bunny lit up like a child's when they were talking about their idol, leaning in closer to the guards, “He's the one who repairs us and fixes up our oopses.” Hearing the animatronic bunny use 'oopses' when talking about mistakes just made it more obvious that he was truly a child. 

“Well I am positioned as a night guard, not a mechanic,” Sean took a sip of his soda before shrugging, “I'll probably end up meeting him.” The new guard paused before pointing a finger in thought, leaving three fingers and a thumb to grip the soda, “Is he the guy with the bright orange-red hair that spikes up and he wears earrings?” 

“Yup,” Both Mark and Mike responded at the same time. The two exchanged a look before letting out a laugh, Mike speaking up, “Fritz is pretty easy to pick out in a large crowd. Just look for the guy who looks like he should be part of a heavy metal band and you have Fritz.” 

“Doesn't he have a slight English accent?” Sean quarried. 

“Eh,” Mike shrugged, drawing on the exclamation, “It's not as prominent as it was probably when he was back home, but it's growing back on him. Him and Jeremy were actually born in London but their family moved here. Fritz kept his accent a bit more than Jeremy did, and on occasion if Fritz gets frazzled enough he'll start adding 'bloody' to the end of everything.” 

“Are you guys seriously gossiping about other guards?” Chica's voice came into the conversation, sounding as if she was struggling to hold back a giggle, “You act like a bunch of mothers who just got together to get the local gossip, or a bunch of teenage girls talking and giggling about the cute guy. Do you guys think Fritz is the cute boy?” 

“We like to talk,” Mike, in his most mature state, stuck out his tongue to the animatronic chicken, “Not our fault the subject got to talking about guards.” He ignored the question Chica asked about Fritz, feeling a bit awkward around the new guards. The only one who knew about his odd attractions was Jeremy, so nobody knew about it now, and he honestly wanted to keep it that way. 

“Better than them talking about who's the cutest guard,” Bonnie laughed, shaking his large head, “on that subject," the bunny seemed excited to talk about the gossip of the workers, "Sometimes I can overhear the wait staff talking about the cutest guard.” 

“Oh?” Almost all three of the guards present let out the same exact noise, glancing over to the animatronic rabbit. They stared at him, hungry to know the information that was held within the AI. 

“Well, ummm...” Bonnie glanced around, feeling a bit nervous with all three pairs of eyes on him, “I mean, I guess I listened to the conversation. They talked about it in great detail a lot and multiple days.” When the eyes didn't move from him, the animatronic emulated a sigh, “Fine, I'll tell.” 

Beside him all other animatronics rolled their eyes, especially Chica. Gossip was not something they enjoyed listening to, especially involving adults. Bonnie had the habit of listening in on adults' conversations, knowing many things the other animatronics would never know about, or care to know about. And every night he would tell them about all the different topics the adults would talk about, especially now that he had Mike to chat up. The guard didn't mind though, because it gave him juicy information about his co-workers that he could use against them if necessary. 

“Apparently the cutest of the guards is Mike,” Bonnie started, before being interrupted by a very happy cheer from the guard. And the next part made that cheer seem premature, “But they seem him being more of a kind of cute as a kitten.” 

“A kitten?!” Mike deflated, a slight pout forming on his lips, “I'm not a kitten, I'm a man.” 

Mark observed Mike over, before nodding in agreement, “You are pretty kitten cute,” he explained himself when the blue eyes shot over at him, wide, “I mean, you're shorter than most people, and your hair is so floofy.” 

“Says you,” Mike snapped back, more out of embarrassment than anger, “You've got hair that is like the definition of floof!” 

“They more find the Head Guard attractive in a mysterious way,” Bonnie continued, not seeming to notice or care about the argument between the two, “He's got the looks they are interested in, but his personality is mysterious to them. They say that he's so sweet but seems to have something mysterious and dark about him-” he paused, placing a lavender paw over his chest, “Their way of describing it not mine.” 

“Wow,” Mike sneered slightly shaking his head, “Miles is not attractive or mysterious: he's just old.” He crossed his arms over his chest, before changing the topic from the Head Guard, “Who do they think is the most attractive overall?” 

“Well, the two new guys are close to taking that mantel,” Bonnie laughed as the two new guards high fived each other in victory, “But they still think Fritz is the best looking.” 

“Of course,” Mike rolled his eyes, part of him happy for his friend being that way, but another part was jealous, especially since he knew how the guard was, “They are wasting their time though: Fritz really isn't interested in dating people.” 

Mark opened his mouth to say something before an unfamiliar voice called into the room, sounding close yet distant at the same time, “ **Micheal, there is something you must see**.” 

The guard turned to face the direction of the voice, freezing up when his brown eyes settle on the slumped over form, “Ummm guys, I think I'm seeing things.” 

“I think I'm trippin' balls,” Sean gulped, taking a step away from the golden suit, “What is that?” 

“That's Golden Freddy,” Freddy plainly replied, before turning over to his friend, “What did you find?” 

The voice came up again, the suit never moving as the words came out, “ **I found him**.” That was all that was needed for all animatronics, and Mike included, to leave the office, piling out into the hallway quickly before vanishing from sight. 

“What was that about?” Sean glanced to Mark, whom returned with a shrug, “Should we follow them?” Another shrug. 

“You're no help at all,” Sean rolled his eyes, missing the smirk that came to Mark's lips, “As useful as a dead rat.” 

“You guys coming?” Mike called back, causing both guards to perk up. They scrambled, placing their now empty soda bottles onto the table, swiping up their hats then bolted out the door, jogging to catch up with the group. 

“What did Golden Freddy find?” Mark breathed as the two caught up to the group, “It sounds like it's something really important!” 

“Sounds like he might have found gold or treasure or maybe a corpse!” Sean sounded almost excited with the last one, getting an awkward stare from both human and animatronic, “What?” He shrunk back a bit, “I just think it would be cool to see a dead corpse...” he added in quietly, “Or a living-dead corpse.” 

They ended up in the backstage, humans squished between the animatronics as Golden Freddy sat on the table. The golden paw rose, pointing towards a patch of wall seeming to be haphazardly covered up with wallpaper and previously behind a shelf. The shelf was now slightly pulled back, revealing the seam of the wallpaper that was slightly less unsaturated as the other wallpaper covering the small room, “ **There**.” 

Mike was the first to step forward, examining the wall, “Is this really one of those rooms?” He glanced back over to Golden Freddy, whom slowly nodded his head, “Well, then let's get it opened enough so we can take a look.” The blue eyes turned to the wall, examining the seam, “I think somebody was in here since it's been sealed.” 

The others leaned in closer, noticing the same thing Mike did: the seam was torn in places as if somebody tore through them in a panic, or had trouble getting a grip on it, like a large clumsy hand, or even an animatronic hand. The shelf before had been a bit farther out that the others, making enough room for a thin person to slip behind, and judging by the hinges it opened into the other room rather than into the backstage. 

“Mark. Sean. Can you two push this shelf out enough for the big bodied animatronics so they can get through?” Mike asked the two guards, watching as they came over to the position, “I'd do it,” he continued to talk as the two guards pushed the shelf, “But I'd probably end up breaking one of my bones.” 

“You that fragile?” Mark grinned to the night guard, “That's rough. Good thing you have us around,” when he was finished pushing the shelf out of the way he flexed his biceps, just a bit bigger than the average male, “We'll do the heavy lifting.” 

“I don't need much heavy lifting as a night guard,” Mike confirmed with a nod, brushing off the idea, “Besides my size and bone density isn't the topic right now. What is,” he stepped back up to the seam in the wall, running his hand over it, “is what's behind here.” His fingers found a point where they could slip past the wallpaper and into an opening that was where the door knob used to be. 

In a shove the panel pushed back, revealing the darkness it concealed. A cold air rose from the darkness, a chilling invitation for the group to venture into the swallowing depths. Mike was the first to go, pulling out his flashlight. His foot didn't meet the floor at the same level as where his other one was, instead hitting a few inches lower for the first step, “This is the basement... I didn't know this place had a basement.” 

“Neither did we...” Freddy mumbled, stepping up behind Mike, “I don't even recall this place existing in my database.” As Mike stepped down a few steps, he stopped to turn back, looking to Freddy the animatronic had a determined glint in his eyes, but couldn't take a step down. 

“You alright there big guy?” Mike questioned, taking a step back up towards Freddy, “You coming down or what?” 

“I'm coming,” He hesitated for a moment before slowly taking a step down, foot landing on the first step, “Have you ever seen one of us try to go down stairs?” When Mike shook his head no, Freddy snorted, “Then that's why I'm taking it carefully.” 

Mike laughed a bit, giving plenty of room for the animatronic to make his way down, shining the light onto each of the step. A distance behind Freddy was Bonnie, his eyes wide staring down at the stairs. It was a moment like this Mike would remember that they were just children at heart, trapped in a dark reality. 

It took some time, but finally after some prodding and cooing the group reached the bottom of the stairs, Mark and Sean taking up the back. The only light illuminating the space around them was the glow from the guards' flashlights, giving small specks of visibility here and there. Dust particles danced in front of the beams of light, speckling the light for a moment in the spotlight. 

“ **This way** ,” Golden Freddy's voice caused all attention to divert into the direction it originated, the lights following suit quickly after. 

When all three beams focused on the object from where Golden Freddy's voice came from, the guards tensed up, Mark being the first to speak up—or more blurt out, “What the fuck is that?!”


End file.
